


The Sinews Of Thy Heart

by EllanaSan



Category: His Dark Materials - Philip Pullman, Hunger Games Series - All Media Types, Hunger Games Trilogy - Suzanne Collins, The Hunger Games (Movies)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Alternate Universe - Daemons, Alternate Universe - Soulmates, And love, Daemons, F/M, Lots of drama, Sort Of, and fluff, because we all know i cannot tag properly, come and read, hunger games based, it's better than the tags let on, no knowledge of pullman universe necessary, trust me - Freeform, two idiots in love results in two daemons in love
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-07-15
Updated: 2019-08-06
Packaged: 2020-06-28 17:24:46
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 20
Words: 56,259
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/19817011
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/EllanaSan/pseuds/EllanaSan
Summary: When there is a physical materialisation of your soul strutting right next to you, hiding your feelings is hard. Even when war is knocking at the door and hiding them is a necessity.





	1. Daemons

**Author's Note:**

> Hi there! This is me again with another au! (I know, an au coming from me! What a novelty!). So this is based on Pullman’s daemons concept from the Dark Materials Trilogy (and the new series). 
> 
> **No knowledge is necessary because I explain eeeeeeverything** (and also to be completely honest, I adapt because I never finished those books).
> 
> I will update a chapter every day for the next 3 weeks (the story is already written, they are are 20 chapters in all and I think they will read better one a day than one a week, also I’m aware not everyone will be interested so better get rid of this little obsession of mine very quick). 
> 
> What’s left to say… Oh, yeah! The title comes from Blake’s poem ‘The Tyger’ for reasons that should become obvious soon and because apparently I like to used old poems to title my stories ( cf Invictus and Into that Good Night). 
> 
> Now is the part where I will beeeeeg you to give me feedback because one chapter a day will take some time of my day for me to beta aaaaand I did binge write this over what… two weeks? So I would really REALLY appreciate it if you dropped me a line if you read a chapter and enjoy it! Yes, I’m begging! Thank you, I love you and now without further ado… I present to you:

__

**_Daemon_** /ˈdiːmən/ 

**_n._ **

  * _Commonly accepted to be the physical manifestation of one’s soul._
  * _A daemon takes the shape of various animals until it settles into the closest animal representation of one’s psyche. The settling usually happens when the child’s innocence is lost. On average, it happens during puberty._
  * _On the human’s death, the daemon will turn into golden dust. The death of a daemon will result in the death of its human._
  * _Traditionally a child’s parents or guardians name their daemon when they appear after the birth._
  * _A daemon’s behavior often matches the one of its owner._
  * _A daemon is traditionally of opposite gender although exceptions have been known._
  * _The acceptable distance range between daemon and human varies but on average a human cannot go nine feet from their daemon without experience excruciating pain._
  * _Touching another’s daemon without express permission is taboo. _



_OOO°_

Haymitch is twelve when his daemon settles.

He steps out of the Peacekeepers station, a bag of grain in one hand, and Lucie stops at his side in her favorite form of a vixen. They pause to breathe the crisp air that always smells like coal, filth and pine trees.

Haymitch knows three things.

He knows there will be two pieces of paper bearing his name for his first Reaping.

He knows it means his chances of escaping death have just decreased by two.

He knows Lucie will never change shape again.

OOO

Effie’s daemon is extremely energetic and her mother is always clucking her tongue at the two of them, always chiding them for his choice of a shape.

At six, Effie finds the whole thing absolutely unfair because she does not control her daemon’s shape and it isn’t _her_ fault if he looks unruly compared to Elindra’s immaculate white Persian daemon.

At ten, she takes pleasure in watching her daemon turning into the biggest animals possible. She likes that eyes turn to them every time they enter a room.

OOO

Hayden’s daemon is named Clara and, while she hasn’t settled yet, she almost always takes the form of a goose. She is always flapping her wings and clucking out peels of high pitched laugher.

At night, Lucie curls around Hayden’s excitable daemon to keep it quiet and Haymitch always falls asleep content, satisfied with the knowledge that his brother is safe.

Even if his belly is often empty and he worries about how he’s going to keep Hayden and his mother fed.

OOO

Elindra named her daughter’s daemon Artemis which, Effie complains for a long time, is often mistaken for a girl name.

It’s only when she’s fourteen and she gets her first crush on a girl that she realizes that, even though her mother couldn’t have known, it makes sense for her to have a daemon who represents both genders.

OOO

The first time Haymitch kisses Mabel is the first time Lucie touches a daemon that isn’t his mother’s or his brother’s.

The second his daemon nuzzles Mabel’s squirrel, the kiss turns warm and fantastic and he cannot stop thinking about her all night.

“We’re going to marry them someday.” Lucie whispers to him in the dark of the bedroom he shares with his brother.

Haymitch can only nod.

OOO

Artemis always has to be better than her sister’s Leon. Lyssa’s daemon favors cute shapes that enchant their mother: exotic birds, refined cats, fluffy bunnies…

Artemis refuses to be outdone by Leon.

If Leon turns into a peacock, Artemis will be a cat.

If Leon turns into a cat, Artemis will be a dog.

If Leon turns into a bunny, Artemis will be a fox.

One day, Leon spends a whole week as a beautiful pink and yellow parakeet and Artemis follows suit by turning into a vicious looking fluffy meikun cat.

At the end of the week, it’s obvious Leon won’t turn into anything else ever again and Artemis, vexed, flicks his tail and changes into a beautiful white peacock.

“Imagine being a parrot forever.” he whispers in Effie’s ear. “How boring!”

She clucks her tongue at him because commenting on other people’s daemon’s forms is rude but privately she thinks Artemis is right. Half the Capitol has some sort of colorful bird for a daemon. It’s common and unoriginal.

Where is the fun in that?

OOO

His mother’s daemon is a spaniel named Guild and he’s the father the boys don’t have anymore.

When Haymitch is fifteen and gets caught poaching, when he’s tied at the post and whipped until hot tears of pain and shame roll down his cheeks, Guild is the one who rages and threatens and promises retribution on the Peacekeepers while his mother tends to him without a word.

Haymitch’s mother is quiet.

Haymitch’s mother is _always_ very quiet. 

Her daemon has enough fire for both of them.

OOO

When Effie turns twelve, her grandfather takes her to the zoo to see the new exhibit that just opened. It’s all about extinct animals brought back to life. They’re mutts, of course, not the real thing but it’s close enough that Effie is enchanted all the same.

Artemis spends the next few weeks turning into lions, tigers, jaguars and, on a memorable occasion, into a panda.

Jilo – her mother’s daemon – gives his fat panda form such a disdainful look that Effie feels mortified.

Artemis remains parrot-shaped for the better part of a whole month afterwards.

OOO

Haymitch takes more tesseraes and every time it feels like he’s signing his death warrant.

His mother hates it, protests and chides him for it every time he goes to the Peacekeepers station. She takes more odd jobs, works herself within a hair of exhaustion…

Guild spends hours lecturing Lucie about how she should take better care of him, advise him more wisely…

Hayden sits in silence in a corner of the room, afraid and sad because of the tension in the air. He’s hugging Clara close to his chest and he flinches when Haymitch finally cuts the conversation short by shouting he isn’t going to let them starve like their father did.

His mother doesn’t cry because she never does – not in front of them – but Guild suddenly sighs and nuzzles Lucie all over like he used to do when she was still a pup.

That night, their daemons sleep on a pile on the floor: a goose, a vixen and a big spaniel who curls around them both to protect them.

For all his posturing, Haymitch _is_ terrified. The next Reaping will be a Quell and he’s been keeping count. His name will be in that bowl more times than any of his friends. Twice the numbers of tributes, twice the numbers of papers in the bowl… The math aren’t good. The odds not in his favor. Not that they ever were.

Guild places his head on top of Lucie’s back and Haymitch breathes a little more easily, his mother’s unconditional love blossoming like a phantom warmth against his own back, channeled through his daemon.

OOO

Effie loves it when her grandfather’s daemon curls up around Artemis. It’s the only time her daemon willingly takes the smallest shape possible: bunnies, cats, peacocks, monkeys, stoats… Anything will do for the treat of being allowed to cuddle his lynx.

In her family, daemons do not touch.

Her mother says it’s unseemly for daemons to cavort like animals.

The one time Artemis tried to nuzzle Jilo, her mother’s Persian glared at him so hard Effie’s daemon fled back to hide behind her legs, under her dress.

It never occurred to her to try again.

It never occurred to Effie to try to hug Elindra either after that.

OOO

Haymitch’s name is the last one to get picked and he hates himself because, by the time the third girl is called, hope started taking root in his heart.

But _of course_ his name is called.

He’s known, hasn’t he? Ever since he woke up he’s been sharing looks with Lucie and while they haven’t said anything out loud, the dread’s been there, the bad feeling gnawing at his stomach like acid. Even Mabel’s kisses and the heavy make-out session before the Reaping hasn’t made it go away.

Lucie presses against the side of his leg, her fur bristling… He can feel the spotlight turning to him, can feel the relief of the boys standing on either side of him, can glimpse his own face on one of the giant screens… His best clothes are slightly too small for him and he looks like he’s seen a hundred tributes look before: starved, dazed and scared.

He can’t have that. He can’t _be_ that.

So he schools his features into a nonchalant expression, forces his lips to stretch into the smirk he often flashes at the girls who giggle in his wake and, above all, he forces himself to take a step toward the stage because there’s nothing worse than when Peacekeepers are forced to come and drag a tribute. The first step is difficult, the second is easier… By the third, Lucie is strutting at his side, apparently unconcerned.

It looks better when he chances a glance at the giant screen. More like this was his choice and less like he’s just been slipped a death penalty.

He’s the only one who knows their hearts are beating a staccato in their chests.

He doesn’t dare look at his family once he’s on stage, doesn’t dare glance at Maysilee’s chickadee even though the bird is staring straight at him.

He can’t afford any show of weakness.

He doesn’t want to die.

So he guesses that means he will have to win.

OOO

Artemis is in a flamingo phase – an aftereffect of the zoo visit – when the Quarter Quell starts.

After the Reaping, her family is all about the girl from One: Nya and her sleek black panther daemon. Lyssa wants to bet on her, her mother is already half convinced she’s going to win and even her father’s interest is piqued when he and his owl daemon usually don’t care much about anything that isn’t the familial business empire.

Effie doesn’t care much for the girl or her panther. She’s decided to bet on someone else.

Artemis turns from a flamingo into a fox and nobody even notices.

OOO

There are no strict rules to the shapes daemons take.

There are stereotypes, of course. Poor people usually have rodents daemons, people with bird daemons shouldn’t be trusted, District people only have filthy vermins for daemons…

Haymitch’s never seen anyone with a flea daemon but, in Twelve, there is an abundance of dogs, squirrels, cats and the occasional horse. Daemons are familiar animals, _reliable_.

OOO

Fashion is everything in the Capitol and daemons aren’t spared.

Capitol citizens know they have to stand out and daemons are a way to do that. Some are just as refined and disdainful a their masters, some are blinding balls of colorful feathers, some are so big accommodations have to be made…

Daemons in the city are exotic, special, pampered and often used as _accessories_.

OOO

Twelve’s escort’s daemon is a big monkey with golden fur Haymitch doesn’t have a proper name for.

They’re both terribly mean and make demeaning comments as soon as the four tributes are on the train but it’s the daemon Lucie flashes her teeth at when the escort tries to pet her like she’s a vulgar dog.

What does Haymitch care if she’s never seen a vixen in the flesh before?

You do _not_ touch someone’s else daemon.

It soon becomes obvious that’s a rule the Capitols only respect between themselves. District people and Avoxes aren’t considered human enough to be granted the same courtesy.

OOO

The morning of the Quell’s launch, Artemis admires his fox shape in the mirror with what amounts to a small pout. Behind him, Effie fixes her red wig and checks her make-up, not quite in the mood for a lecture. She needs to look perfect or her mother will make comments she does not care to hear.

“I’m not sure it suits me.” her daemon sighs. “Besides, Mother and Jilo will complain. We have company today.”

There is always company on the first day of the Games. It would turn into a party before the bloodbath is over, she knows. That’s what her mother expects.

And her mother will not like that Artemis is still shaped like _vermin_.

Her daemon turns into a panther not so different from One’s tribute – except for the color, instead of going for black, Artemis is an immaculate white – and Effie wrinkles her nose. Elindra has been making hints that a panther would be a nice shape for her daemon to take since they are officially sponsoring the girl.

“He will win, you know.” she argues petulantly.

Artemis flicks his long white tail. “Nobody from Twelve has won in… I don’t even remember.”

“It does not mean he cannot do it.” she insists, dabbing some more color on her lips.

“Are you being stubborn because you find him _handsome_?” he taunts knowingly.

“I am being stubborn because I am _right_.” she huffs. “And you are so _not_ a white panther. Besides, it will clash with my dress.”

Her dress is green and she has chosen it _because_ it would go well with reddish fur.

They stare at each other for a long minute before Artemis sighs and turns back into a fox.

“This form is too small.” he complains. “I feel shrunk.”

“If you turn into a panda again Jilo will _murder_ you.” she points out. “ _If_ Mother doesn’t get to me first.”

The fox tilts his head to the side, watching himself in the mirror, contemplative. “I quite like being a lion…”

Effie quite likes it when he is a lion too, the problem is that under her mother’s glare, Artemis doesn’t feel like a lion, he feels like a mouse and thus often turns back into a safe colorful bird. Being a lion only works when they are out on a stroll with her grandfather and she feels like she could touch the stars if only she tried.

OOO

It’s not how warm and sticky the blood feels on his fingers that gets to Haymitch.

It’s the golden dust floating in the air after the boy’s daemon exploded.

Maysilee offers him a hand up and Haymitch takes it.

Later, when she stands watch and her chickadee snuggles against the tender side of Lucie’s belly, his daemon allows it. Haymitch breathes in and pretends he’s home, pretends he hasn’t just ended a life, pretends he’s not a killer.

Even the warmth of Maysilee’s daemon against his own isn’t enough to chase the bile at the back of his mouth.

OOO

Her family and her friends mock and berate her for supporting the underdog.

Artemis changes from a fox to a white tiger.

White fur is a pain on clothes but she quite likes feeling his formidable shape guarding her back.

OOO

Haymitch runs for his life and Lucie hobbles next to him, trying her best to out speed the one-eyed panther who’s trying to rip her head off.

Haymitch’s guts are half dangling out of his stomach and a distant part of himself thinks being forced to hold on to his own innards is still less disgusting than being covered in other people’s blood and daemons’ golden dust. 

He doesn’t _purposefully_ aims for the cliff. He just follows Lucie.

Lucie who flops down right when the panther finally leaps…

Haymitch collapses more than he ducks to avoid the axe that Nya flings at him…

The force field does the rest.

And, just like that, with his guts in his hands and a bleeding vixen passed out on his thigh, he’s a _victor_.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Did you enjoy this first chapter? I hope you did! Please do let me know your thoughts and tune in tomorrow for a new chapter!


	2. Grief

After Haymitch’s victory, all the daemons that can still shift turn into foxes and vixens.

Artemis sniffs disdainfully at all of them.

“We launched the trend, you know.” he tells Effie in a vexed puff, back into his flamingo form.

He doesn’t turn into a fox again, not even as they cheer with everyone else for the new Quell victor.

Effie _so_ hates it when she doesn’t stand out.

OOO

Chaff’s daemon is a capuchin monkey with a deep voice that doesn’t quite fit her body. She’s named Lim and she reminds Lucie of Haymitch’s mother.

OOO

Effie stands in the City Circle with her friends during the Crowning. It’s too crowded, people keep pushing and shoving and accidentally brushing against each other’s daemons… She shudders and fights the urge to gag every time this happens.

Artemis turns back from his flamingo to a white tiger and glares at all the foxes and vixens around him, daring them to try and bother them again.

By the time Caesar and his monkey arrive on stage and the Crowning starts, Effie has a nice little island of space all of her own. Nobody wants to go anywhere near a pissed off tiger. All the more so if the tiger is protectively wrapped around a young girl. 

OOO

Haymitch spends his time in the Capitol after the Crowning shuddering.

Capitols always go straight for his daemon. They touch Lucie like she’s a curious pet and not his soul. They touch _him_ too. Pats on his back, hysterical hugs, wet kisses on his cheeks – and on one particularly horrible occasion on his mouth.

They all want a piece of the new victor.

And his escort, who is supposed to _guide_ him, is only too happy to let them do it.

Lucie and Haymitch don’t belong to themselves anymore, they belong to _them_. They never tire of reminding him what happened in the arena, want him to describe his experience and talk about how it felt to take his first life and _remember_ …

He hates it, takes showers that last hours…

He can never get rid of the feeling of blood and golden dust on his skin.

He longs for the soothing touch of his mother and the cheerful laugh of his brother, for the warm fur of their daemons against Lucie’s, for Mabel’s sweet kisses and the simple contentment of being _home_.

OOO

Effie is in love.

She buys posters and figurines in secret and hides everything under the loose floorboard under her bed.

It won’t do to let her mother know she has feelings for a District boy, even if he’s a victor.

Her mother isn’t one for love in general, she doubts she would approve of someone from Twelve.

“It’s alright…” Artemis croons late at night, curled up on her pillow in the shape of a white stoat. “We will meet them during the Tour, they will fall in love with us and everything will follow after that. Even Jilo won’t be able to say anything when he sees how much Haymitch loves you.”

OOO

Haymitch and Lucie go home to three newly dug graves.

There is no filling the hole they feel inside, not even when he clutches her to his chest at night.

OOO

It’s strange to realize you never knew pain.

Effie didn’t know what real pain feels like until her grandfather dies. Then it’s like she cannot breathe properly again. Air goes in her lungs but never quite enough to stop her from feeling dizzy all the time with the knowledge she will never see him again, that his lynx is now nothing but golden dust in the wind.

Her life loses some colors and everything seems grey and boring. _Meaningless_.

She’s so affected that everyone keeps expecting her daemon to settle but Artemis stubbornly refuses to commit to a definite shape. Her mother, particularly, makes it abundantly clear without saying a word that it would be _appropriate_ for a young lady’s daemon to settle on such an occasion. Jilo berates Artemis night and day a lot more explicitly.

The silent judgment from everyone around her makes her feel even worse: as if she didn’t love her grandfather enough, as if her grief is not as deep as it should be. It is all so unfair because she loves him like she’s never loved anyone else, not even her parents or her sister. He was her everything and now she is alone.

Artemis spends months as a white stoat wrapped around her neck.

On the first day of Victory Tour, he turns into a fox.

OOO

Chaff is the only good thing to come out of the Tour. It’s a surprise to find him and Lim on their doorstep but one he and Lucie welcome readily. Haymitch claims he doesn’t need a mentor, that he’s done the hard part already by getting out of the arena, but he knows it’s a lie and he desperately needs someone’s guidance. Someone who knows the rules of this new game that isn’t played with knives or by winning a fight at the Cornucopia.

He feels like he’s going insane.

He hates people invading his space and, in the close quarters of the train, it quickly becomes a problem. He can’t stand bright colors or shiny lights that remind him of his arena. He has nightmares every night that leave him looking like a zombie in daylight. The scar on his stomach hurts even if he knows it’s only in his head. More than anything, he’s full of sorrow and grief and anger all the time. He misses his family, he misses his girl.

He misses his _life_.

He manages to hold it together, to smile and play the part until they reach the Capitol and Chaff sits him down and explains about certain arrangements between victors and chosen people. That Haymitch has never been with a girl before – not all the way – doesn’t help. That he has no one to be used as a pressure point won’t save him. There is always something. Rationing in his District, a sudden round of laying off at the mines, a new more zealous squad of Peacekeepers sent to Twelve to bring order…

The consequences of a refusal are made clear to him.

The choice isn’t a choice.

He doesn’t cry afterwards even though his throat burns and he wants to.

He lets Chaff pour him a drink – a whole bottle really.

While he gets drunk, Lucie lets Lim pet her fur until she finally stops trembling.

OOO

Haymitch Abernathy isn’t at all what she expected and Effie comes back home vexed and hurt.

He barely looked at her, barely acknowledged her, barely noticed her really… She was only one girl in line with another hundred girls, waiting for hours to get his signature on a poster. There was no instant connection, no love at first sight, not even a nice comment on how pretty she looks… 

“She didn’t even _look_ at me.” Artemis huffs, in a fit of his own over the lack of attention the victor’s daemon has paid him. The vixen was not at all what they hoped she would be: she just sat there, looking sad and dazed. No fun at all. “I made sure our furs matched and everything!”

“Forget her.” she rages. “Forget _him_! Who cares about District Twelve anyway? _I_ certainly don’t!”

OOO

In time, Haymitch stops trying to protest or prevent Capitols from touching his daemon. He already feels soiled, what’s a little more?

Lucie’s feelings of betrayal shine fierce in her eyes every time something like that happens and he tacitly allows it. She never stops trying to avoid the grabby hands, not even long after Haymitch gave up.

OOO

Her thirteenth year is difficult.

She’s still reeling from her grandfather’s death and she’s put on weight. Her mother won’t tolerate her mopping any longer and makes it known.

She spends a whole year eating only soup and running on a treadmill in the vain hope of contenting her mother while alternatively finding small ways to rebel. She dyes her hair pink when her mother wants it blue, she smokes her first cigarette and she kisses her first boyfriend – unsanctioned and unapproved by her parents.

Artemis spends the whole year switching between being a white stoat and a white tiger.

OOO

He’s not sure who turns bitter first, if it’s him or his daemon.

All he knows is that one day, they’re glaring at each other on opposite sides of the kitchen – as far apart as their connection will let them be before it starts to become painful – and he realizes this has become routine.

Glaring at his daemon, wishing he were _entirely_ alone, wishing he made different choices…

OOO

People tosses Effie strange looks.

There is no real standard age for a daemon to settle but after fourteen, it’s rare for someone’s daemon to still be able to shift.

Effie dismisses the fake concern of her friends just like she does the pressure her family puts on Artemis.

_Fashion is a fleeting mistress_ , she likes to say, _Who wants to be stuck one way forever?_

Secretly though, in the dead of night, she watches Artemis shift from stoat to tiger and tiger to stoat again and again in front of the mirror and she wonders how long they can keep doing this. They’re being stretched into two polar opposite directions: what she aspires to be and what her mother expects of her.

The two cannot coincide.

It terrifies her.

OOO

Alina has a moth daemon and she always smells like almond.

She’s the first victor since his victory he takes an interest in.

She’s also the first woman he willingly ends up sleeping with.

For a few weeks while all the flirting and the chasing and the turning around each other are going on, Lucie curls up next to him at night again and stops tossing him such angry looks.

For a few weeks, he almost feels happy.

OOO

When she’s sixteen, she gets a modeling offer from one of the most famous stylists in the city.

Her mother laughs it off and tells her to stop being a naïve little girl with too big dreams, that she is not made for greatness and that she should start seriously thinking about her future. Lyssa is getting married. She should worry about her own prospects.

She’s never raised her voice to her mother before. How _unladylike_. Jilo hisses at her long before she’s even done shouting. She doesn’t _care_.

When she walks out of that conversation, Artemis has settled as a white tiger.

She takes Fawn Harwyn up on his offer.

She becomes a model.

She becomes _famous_.

She becomes _everything_ she ever wanted to be.

For six years, it feels like she can walk among the stars.

But she knows better than anyone that glory is fleeting and models fall back into nothingness as quickly as they rise.

There is a next logical step and she takes the leap without even thinking twice about it.

OOO

Lucie doesn’t like him drinking.

She tosses him reproachful accusative looks every time he does.

That doesn’t stop him. It’s the only thing that numbs the pain a little.

Lucie doesn’t like _anything_ he does anyway.

She doesn’t like that he gave Alina up after one night of bliss, that he sleeps with his escorts to win points in a stupid contest with Chaff, that he wallows in his own misery all day long… Years after people stopped trying to pet her – and him – Lucie is still bitter over his giving in to that debasement.

Twelve years after their victory, she doesn’t understand how they got _there_ : to him drinking all day to the point of making himself sick, to him pretending so hard he doesn’t care about the tributes dying on his watch, to him being such a bitter old ass nobody but Chaff wants to be his friend…

He doesn’t understand how she can forget: the hot blood on his hands, on her fur, the golden dust in the air and in their mouths, Maysilee’s screams, the imaginary smell of the fire that has taken his family from him…

OOO

“It won’t be for long.” Effie hums, indulging in a cigarette as the train rushes through the back country. “We will be promoted to a better District in a year or two. Head Gamemaker Torello promised.”

“Of course.” Artemis chuckles, his front paws propped on the big windows. He’s fascinated by the changing landscapes. “We are far too good to stay in Twelve forever.” Her daemon is distracted by what’s happening outside but not distracted enough that he doesn’t toss her a sly look. “Are you impatient to meet him?”

There is no need to specify what _him_ she means.

Effie huffs in dismissal but Artemis’ bushy tail wiggles with excitement.

OOO

His new escort’s daemon is a white tiger and the tiger is wearing a bowtie that matches her dress.

He’s used to Capitols and their eccentricities, has seen enough huge birds with blinding feathers or groomed exotic animals, but a white tiger? That’s a _first_.

He doesn’t know if it’s the shape or the color of her daemon that leaves him speechless.

Then again, it might just be the bowtie…

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> And so they finally meet! Do you know why Artemis is wearing a bowtie? Because bowties are coool! (sorry couldn't help it) What did you think? Let me know! And don't forget to come back tomorrow for more! (yes I do sound like a commercial, don't I?)


	3. A Feline Problem

Effie enjoys the brief moment of shock that flashes on Haymitch Abernathy’s face like she always does.

Her daemon often has that effect on people she meets for the first time. She knows there must be someone else out there with a tiger daemon but she has yet to meet them. Artemis makes her unique. She loves that.

“How nice to meet you.” she says politely once the mayor is done making introductions. The man is sweating profusely and dabbing at his forehead with a handkerchief. “I am sure we will be _the best_ of friends.”

She grins as she holds out her hand for a handshake.

Twelve’s Quarter Quell victor _finally_ drags his eyes away from her daemon to take _her_ in. Her smile deepens because she knows she looks particularly gorgeous in her puffy blue and yellow dress.

“Well…” He snorts, ignoring her outstretched hand. “ _Ain’t_ you some new kind of clown…”

Artemis is so shocked that he gapes and there is nothing particularly reassuring to a gaping tiger so the Mayor’s dog daemon hastily shuffles away.

“I’m Lucie.” the vixen offers in a long suffering tone when it becomes clear Haymitch won’t say anything else and that Effie is too offended to muster a proper response. “Don’t mind him. He growls but he’s got no real bite.”

The man glares down at his daemon who ignores him.

Effie is deeply disturbed by the proof that this lack of harmony between a daemon and their human can exist.

“Artemis.” her daemon answers politely after a minute too long. “Nice to meet you.”

Lucie looks at them both and Effie can swear the daemon is holding back a laugh. “You’re all sorts of proper, ain’t you?”

She doesn’t know how to answer that question and she’s unsettled by the fact the daemon seems to be the one in charge so she huffs and suggests they take their seats.

OOO

Haymitch is nicely buzzed.

Not enough that he doesn’t feel the pain when the new escort reaps a thirteen year-old girl and a fourteen year-old boy.

Not enough that he doesn’t notice she has endless toned legs, a very nice ass and nails as sharp as her tiger’s claws.

She also has a high-pitched voice that nags and nags almost as badly as Lucie does on an everyday basis and lips that seem to be perpetually pursed in a pout.

OOO

Effie is not impressed.

Haymitch is passed out drunk in the living-room car before the parade’s recap even starts. His stubble is out of control, he needs a haircut, his clothes are mismatched and out of fashion, his face needs a peeling treatment and he could do with an attitude adjustment. In the mere couple of hours since they boarded the train, he insulted her a separate amount of three times and mocked her almost incessantly.

His daemon is a little less difficult than he is but the vixen sighs and complains a lot when she’s not making sarcastic jabs at her owner – which is _not quite_ the positive attitude Effie likes to adopt. Lucie looks just as shabby as her human, too. Her fur is matted in places, she looks terribly weary and Effie can count her ribs. Neither of them looks healthy or properly taken care of.

No, she decides, watching the victor and his daemon sleep, this wouldn’t do _at all_.

She shares a look with Artemis and her daemon silently nods his agreement.

She _will_ turn Twelve’s PR around _and_ she will make them look the part of a victor even if she has to _force_ Haymitch and Lucie to improve their behavior kicking and screaming.

She became an escort for the fame of the position, _yes_ , but that does _not_ mean she does not intent to become a _winning_ escort.

OOO

That woman and her oversized cat are a nuisance.

Haymitch and Lucie haven’t been in agreement on a lot of things in a very long time but they find common foes in Effie Trinket and Artemis. It’s nice to be united again for once.

The escort and her daemon do not know when to _stop_ pushing.

They push for Haymitch to eat something healthy in the morning and to stop drinking so much during the day. They push for Haymitch and Lucie to mentor the tributes and their daemons. They push for Haymitch to dress more smartly and for Lucie to wear one of the ribbons Trinket provided around her neck. They push and push _and push_ and when Haymitch growls, snarls and generally tells them to shove their suggestions where the sun doesn’t shine they huff and puff and complain to each other about his vulgarity until his head hurts and Lucie hides her snout under her bushy tail to drown the irritating sound of their voices.

OOO

The only reason Effie hasn’t run to Head Gamemaker Torello to beg for a transfer yet is because it would please Haymitch too much.

She will _not_ let him win.

She will not quit. She will not resign. She will not make a fuss to get promoted like Viola Summercket and her awful magpie daemon did the previous year – and, _oh_ , how Artemis _longs_ to rips that ridiculous bird to shreds with his fangs. She will not give in to his ridiculous attempts at charming her into bed either – to his credit, he only tries once and she laughs so hard that Artemis joins and, after a few minutes, even Lucie starts snickering; that’s the reason why she suspects Haymitch isn’t as vexed by the laughter as he pretends to be.

She’s so busy trying to whip Haymitch into something a little more victor-worthy that she almost forgets to worry about the tributes.

They’re awfully _young_ , that’s the thing.

She didn’t think they would be so young and so… _innocent_. Tributes on TV always somehow look formidable, even the scrawny ones. They look remote, they look eager to take part in the Games or, if not eager, at least… She doesn’t know.

Her tributes aren’t _remote_ and they aren’t _eager_ … They are just _scared_ and _defeated_ before the Games even start – and it doesn’t help that Haymitch told them they are probably going to die and that he won’t be able to save them – and they cling to the back of her skirts like ducklings when she bring them down for the interviews even though she tells them not to because it creases the fabric. In the end though, she lets them. She’s too desperate to help them any way she can.

“They are only children.” Artemis whispers the night before the launch.

_And they are going to die_.

He doesn’t say it but Effie hears it all the same because she thinks it too. The interviews were a disaster, their scores were mediocre and so far she hasn’t been able to convince a single sponsor, not even her father’s friends.

“The odds are fair.” she reminds her daemon.

Artemis hums unconvincingly and stretches himself on the empty space next to her on the bed so she can hug him.

From the penthouse, the odds do not look _that_ fair.

OOO

Haymitch washes the taste of defeat with a gulp of whiskey.

“But… But… But…” Trinket stutters next to him in the room packed with sponsors, victors and escorts. Her blue eyes are riveted to the giant screens all around the room. Haymitch already stopped looking.

“ _But… But… But_ …” he mocks.

“Haymitch.” Lucie chides but her heart isn’t in it. If possible, his demon looks even more exhausted than usual. With a powerful leap, she comes to perch on his shoulder. She doesn’t do that often anymore. They don’t like touching each other: her fur is always dry and brittle and it only reminds him of what he’s done and she hates that he always smells like liquor. But there are days when they need the comfort and today is one of those.

“It went too quickly!” his escort finally spits out. “The Games _barely_ started and…”

“Don’t you _fucking_ dare cry.” he snaps because he can see it, the telltale batting of fake eyelashes that usually precedes a Capitol bawling session. He’s lived through that with other escorts before, when he kicked them out of his bed once the deed was done with a sneer and a cruel comment on their performance – she’s the first he’s seen who might look like she will cry for _tributes_. Fake or genuine, he doesn’t need the display.

“Language.” her tiger growls but his voice is rougher than usual, _rawer_.

They both look genuinely stricken and Haymitch can’t stop himself from laughing. He knows he’s being cruel and she hasn’t really done anything to deserve it aside from annoying him but he _cannot_ help it.

“What’s the matter, kitty?” he taunts her daemon. “Something stuck in your throat? Ball of fur, maybe? A _fucking_ conscience?”

“ _Haymitch_.” Lucie hisses again and this time he heeds her advice, feeling a twinge of regret when Trinket visibly bites down on the inside of her cheek to keep her composure. She hasn’t been the _worst_ escort he ever had, in truth. She was condescending to the kids but at least she tried to help, she tried to coach them when he refused to do it and she tried to keep their morale up. It’s more than most ever do.

A few bats of her eyelashes though and her cheerful expression is back like it never wavered. 

“It is _perfectly_ alright! Better luck next year!” she dismisses, flashing him a bright dazzling smile.

He shakes his head at her, sneers at the tiger who is sneering right back at him, and leaves them there, Lucie digging her claws in his shoulder to keep her balance.

“You didn’t have to rub it in.” she laments, wrapping her tail around his neck.

“She’s soft.” he argues. “She won’t last anyway.”

He’s got no clue why her daemon chose to settle in that particular form. One of those ridiculous colorful birds would have suited her better.

OOO

Effie spends half the year toying with the idea of sending her resignation to Head Gamemaker Torello.

It pains her to admit her mother is right and she might not have the stomach to be an escort. The thought of reaping two new children, of sending them to an arena so they can be slaughtered… Of course, she’s determined to do better next year. Find sponsors, for a start. Whip Haymitch into shape so he can properly represent his District too. Make sure the children have all the necessary tools to go through the ordeal…

“They will be _so_ smug if we do not show up at the next Reaping.” Artemis grumbles when they discuss the possibility of quitting. “Can you imagine?”

She doesn’t want to imagine.

She hates the idea of Haymitch Abernathy being _smug_.

She hates the idea of losing to him.

“We are _not_ quitters.” she grumbles right back. “I _refuse_ to be _bullied_ into it.”

“Exactly!” Artemis approves.

They conveniently forget Haymitch and Lucie aren’t the whole problem, that the nightmares and the guilt are.

It’s easier to make it all about a bet to win.

OOO

He wants to say he’s disappointed when Trinket greets them on stage the next year.

Lucie’s excited wagging of her tail would betray the lie.

OOO

She thought they were fighting the year before but she was wrong.

That wasn’t fighting.

_This_ is fighting.

This, she decides, is _war_.

OOO

The woman is impossible and he wants to strangle the oversized cat.

She’s set on a revolution and she will settle for nothing less. She claims if he makes an effort they can win. She claims all their tributes need is _directions_ and she hands out promises of victory like someone else would hand candies. Haymitch wants no part in it but she never lets him escape – once she chases him right up to his bathroom to keep on nagging through the closed door while he pretends to take a shower.

Her only saving grace, he tells Chaff, is that she _never_ tries to touch his daemon like other Capitols do so casually.

OOO

Haymitch isn’t cooperating and Effie is utterly done with his attitude.

He pulls drunken stunts with his friend from Eleven, makes Twelve a laughing stock and refuses to help her coach the children. She doesn’t know anything about surviving in the wild and she tries to explain that to Lucie because Lucie, _at least_ , is reasonable. She can help them with their PR, she can help with the interviews, but she cannot give them what they need to win in the arena proper.

Lucie looks at her drunk and half-comatose human and sighs.

“Winning isn’t what it’s cracked up to be, you know.” the vixen declares and refuses to say another word, even when Artemis tries to lure her into a conversation.

OOO

The escort and the cat replace his entire wardrobe.

One morning he opens the big closet in the corner of his room and his old shirts and pants are gone, replaced with smart button-downs, suits and pants in various shades of blue, grey, white and purple. There are sets of sweatpants and shirts to sleep in. Brand new underwear in all shapes and sizes – clearly nobody wanted to make an educated guess on that front – are piled in the first drawer of his dresser. Even his socks are gone – and _sure_ they had holes in several places but they were _his socks_. He doesn’t even want to check the shoe rack because he’s sure his old boots will have been replaced with slick shiny shoes.

He doesn’t understand how she and her cat managed that without waking him or Lucie up.

He shouts at her for two hours straight and goes out to the party that night wearing the checkered sweatpants and the shirt she has so clearly intended to be sleepwear.

“It’s _our kids_ it’s gonna hurt, not her or her big cat.” Lucie accuses.

Haymitch knows she’s right but he still downs the glass of whiskey he’s been nursing and glares at the blinding figure of his escort on the other side of the room. Her daemon is mingling a few feet away from her and his blue eyes keep regularly checking she’s still close by.

They don’t have a lot of range, Haymitch already noticed, and he’s toying with how to turn that knowledge to his advantage.

He and Lucie can go as far apart as the length of a whole room nowadays.

He’s ready to bet given a few more years they will manage to be out of sight of each other. They resent each other _that_ much. Trinket clearly doesn’t have that problem. She’s in love with her plushy cat just like her cat is in love with her.

“What are you smirking about?” Chaff asks, flopping down on the chair next to him. “And what are you _wearing_?”

He can’t tell Chaff he feels smug just _thinking_ of that tiger as a _cat_. Every time he demeans her daemon by calling him a kitten, she huffs and puffs and it’s glorious to watch her turn such a nice shade of red.

“Don’t even ask…” Lucie begs.

“Is that the latest fashion?” Lim teases, immediately climbing on Lucie’s back to play with her fur.

Haymitch immediately calms down, some of his anger smoothed away by the fondness he feels from Lim – and by extension Chaff – through Lucie. It reminds him of Hayden and Clara.

It’s bittersweet because as much as he enjoys knowing what he means to Chaff – and what Chaff means to him – it’s making him miss his brother and his daemon all the more.

And it doesn’t help him figure out how to deal with his feline problem.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Spark fly! Do you think Artemis will domesticate Lucie? Will Effie tame Haymitch? Is Chaff ever going to stop laughing at his buddy for going to a party in his pajamas (looking at you Woody) ? Let me know your thoughts and see you tomorrow!


	4. A Tiny Thing

Effie is skimming through a magazine when the shout of rage reaches her ears.

She keeps on turning pages, Artemis sprawled next to her on the bed is lazily watching the colorful pictures… They’re on the cover of this week _Capitol Beauty_ as well as on the spread pages in the middle. The pictures are good and the interview is the perfect touch of witty.

They’re both very happy about the magazine…

… and _very_ smug about their plan to get back at Haymitch for going to a party in sweatpants. 

She doesn’t have to wait long before Haymitch pushes her door open – without knocking first – and invades her room.

“Where did you put it?”

Lucie is staying close to his feet, not quite as angry as her human but her tail is flicking one way and the other in obvious irritation.

Effie doesn’t even bother to sit up. Her long legs are stretched and crossed at the ankles, she lifts an interrogative eyebrow. “Can I help you, Haymitch?”

“The booze! Where did you put _the booze_?” he snarls, marching on her and snatching the magazine from her hands only to toss it away with far too much aggressiveness. She doubts he would _actually_ hurt her but she’s half lying down and he’s looming over her, fuming at the mouth, and she cannot help a second of… She’s not afraid _per se_ but… Perhaps she has gone too far with her prank…

That second is all it takes for Artemis to gracefully leap up and plant his body half over hers. He doesn’t bare his fangs but the protective stance in unmistakable, his powerful shoulders are tensed and his claws are half-out, leaving tears in the sheets.

In response, Lucie’s fur stands on end and she jumps in front of Haymitch…

For a wild moment, she’s not sure the daemons aren’t going to fight.

It has been weeks of more or less serious pranks, of slamming doors and shouting matches… Tension is running high.

“Easy, sweetheart…” He finally snorts without much amusement, visibly forcing his body to relax so he doesn’t look _that_ threatening. “Stand down, kitty.”

“My name is _Artemis_.” her daemon growls, utterly fed up with his antics.

Haymitch knows, of course, but Effie suspects he delights in calling him _kitty_ for the same reason he likes to call her _sweetheart_. The pet names are demeaning on a best day.

“Your name is ridiculous.” Lucie retorts. “I’d stick to kitty if I were you.”

Artemis won’t move because he can be very stubborn but Effie prides herself on being reasonable and, thus, she gently shoves him away from her so she can slip her legs off the bed and stand up. She feels better once she’s back on her heels and can look Haymitch straight in the eyes.

Artemis doesn’t like it and makes it known with a low growl. He tries to sneak between them so he can shield her but Effie blocks him with her knee and he shakes his whole body, vexed. And then he glares at Lucie who is watching him with what can only be a mocking expression.

“If you want your liquor, I suggest you dress properly for the party tonight.” she declares in a calm polite voice.

She thinks a flash of amusement flickers in Haymitch’s eyes under the anger but it’s hard to say for sure.

He scowls and she swallows back the urge to tell him it will give him wrinkles. “I don’t give in to blackmail, sweetheart.”

She doesn’t bat an eyelash. “Well, _I_ do not give in to scruffy men with no manners.”

He takes a step forward, very much invading her personal space. She cannot step back because she will bump into the bedside table and she _would_ not step back even if there was room because it would feel too much like _losing_.

She waits for Artemis to try to get in the middle again, to growl or show him that they won’t be bullied, but her daemon remains quiet. He’s sitting down now, watching the two of them with his head cocked to the side… Lucie’s aggressive attitude is gone too. She’s also sitting down, her tail flicking left and right with jerky moves…

“You’re sure you wanna play games?” Haymitch warns in a low voice. “Cause fox beats tiger _every time_.”

“In my experience…” she hums. “You will find the tiger actually _eats_ the fox.”

Lucie snorts and gives Artemis an odd sort of look. _Appraising_ almost.

Not unlike the look Haymitch is giving _her_.

Her heart is beating faster. She tells herself it’s adrenaline from the tense conversation but she knows better. She knows better because there’s something coiling in her lower belly and she can’t resist the urge to lick her lips and…

His eyes are very grey and very stormy. And they dart to her mouth.

The air is charged with something that isn’t anger anymore and she cannot really explain how they got there but she’s very conscious of the bed next to them.

Slowly, his lips stretch into a smirk that is between the smile he uses when he’s willing to bother appearing charming and one of his bitter sneers. “You want to eat me so bad, you just had to say… I’ve got _nothing_ against that idea…”

His eyes are still fixed on her mouth and Effie feels herself flush at the images his words conjure.

Artemis suddenly drops to the floor and sprawls there languidly, not at all concerned with Effie being in any potential danger anymore. It’s undignified and he doesn’t usually do that in public. Lucie looks very very amused by his behavior.

This time, there is no mistaking the mirth shining in the victor’s gaze. One glance at the tiger is enough to see she’s not entirely advert to the idea either. Unlike him and Lucie, who sometimes baffle her by adopting opposite stances, she and Artemis are always in synch.

“I need to get ready for the party.” she says in a rush, her mouth very dry.

She doesn’t _flee_ to her bathroom. She _walks_. _Very_ properly. _Not at all_ rushed. And Artemis saunters right next to her, his tail and his head high in the air.

Haymitch’s laughter isn’t quite as vexing as it should be.

Maybe because it’s the first time she hears a _genuine_ laugh coming from him.

OOO

Haymitch gets his liquor back.

OOO

Effie wins and Haymitch wears the clothes she selected for him so she magnanimously instructs the Avox to put some alcohol back on the drink cart.

OOO

He doesn’t want to admit the clothes she has chosen aren’t terrible and that he likes them.

He draws the line at knotting a bow around his daemon’s neck.

OOO

Effie spends three hours in the living-room coaching the children for the interviews while Artemis tries to explain to their daemons how they should act – and it’s difficult to get the girl’s mad squirrel to settle enough to _listen_. She tries to teach the girl to walk with heels, tries to convince the boy he needs to stop scratching his head like it’s full of lice…

Haymitch sits in an armchair nursing a glass of whiskey and watches. He doesn’t say a single word.

At some point though, right when Artemis is about to roar with frustration at the unruly squirrel, Lucie darts a swift paw and pins the girl’s daemon’s tail to the floor. Artemis shoots her a grateful look and goes on with his lecture.

The next day, when they’re sitting in the audience watching the abysmal performance of their tributes on stage, Haymitch leans in her space and whispers in her ear. “Attitude is all well and good but you need to coach them about content.”

She rolls her eyes. “I thought it was _your_ job. My mistake.”

“Yeah.” he mocks. “It is.”

OOO

The kids die because, of course, they do.

She’s better at hiding she’s upset this year, he notices. She bats her eyelashes furiously a few times, swallows the lump in her throat and offers him a blinding smile that doesn’t reach her eyes.

“Better luck next year.” the big cat says.

Lucie curls up on his feet and refuses to talk.

OOO

Effie drinks too much, parties too hard and sleeps with two people in the same night.

It doesn’t fill the hole in her chest.

Artemis helps her get into bed with sad disappointed eyes.

OOO

“I’m gonna _kill_ her.” Haymitch grumbles, walking back to the table Chaff has snatched in a corner of the room the party is raging in. He drops on the free chair and rubs his face, letting Lucie hop on the table so she can sit with Lim.

“Seems to me you’re gonna _fuck_ her, more like.” his best friend mocks.

“Never in a million years.” he spits out. “She’s a _fucking_ pain in my ass. She’s… She’s… And _don’t_ get me started on her _fucking_ kitten!”

Lim pokes Lucie all over until his vixen flashes her teeth. “We _don’t_ like them.”

“I think you like him a little.” Lim snickers. “He’s very big.”

“How does a tiny little thing like her ends up with a tiger?” Chaff asks, his gaze finding Trinket in the crowd. He gives her an appreciative look though and Haymitch squirms a little on his chair. He knows Chaff is mentally undressing her.

He finds he doesn’t really like that.

Lucie can’t like it either because she flicks her paw at Lim and it’s not quite as playful as usual.

His best friend’s eyes immediately dart back to him and he lifts his remaining hand in a peace offering.

“She’s a _bloody_ nuisance.” Haymitch grumbles as if that’s still the point. “I hate her. I hate the cat too.”

Chaff and his daemon exchange a knowing look.

Haymitch downs his glass and tells himself he needs to shut up about her.

He and Lucie have been complaining to their friends about their escort nonstop ever since the Games started. It’s all they talk about.

Maybe he needs to get laid too.

OOO

They find Haymitch passed out half of his body in the living-room and half in the corridor.

Effie is tipsy herself but she sobers immediately at the sight and rushes to crouch next to him. She’s got no clue what to do in case of medical emergency, no idea how to react and Artemis is already panicking, suggesting they call the Games Clinic or a private doctor they can pay off to be discreet or…

“He’s gonna be fine.” a tired voice calls from inside the living-room. “He just needs to sleep it off. Ain’t the first time. Won’t be the last.”

She must have been drunker than she thought because that’s the moment she realizes what’s missing and why she has panicked so much at seeing Haymitch’s lying there _alone_. No daemon means death. And…

“Lucie?” Artemis pokes his head into the living-room but doesn’t go much further. They can’t be more than six feet away from each other without her starting to feel sick. Nine is the furthest they can go and it’s _atrocious_.

Lucie, she sees, is lying on the back of the couch, a good thirty feet away and she’s not showing the smallest sign of discomfort.

“Are you certain he is alright?” Effie asks, disturbed both by the distaste in the daemon’ s voice and by how far away from her human she’s standing.

“I’m used to taking care of him when he’s like that.” the vixen sighs, jumping off the couch and padding over. Artemis moves away so she can get to Haymitch, careful not to knock off a vase or a table – there are disadvantages to having such a big daemon in a close space. “As long as he ain’t puking, we’re good. And if he starts to retch, I just have to push him on the side.”

That sounds disgusting and not quite fair of Haymitch to rely on his daemon to keep him alive.

“I cannot leave him like this…” Effie winces.

Lucie watches her with a mix of surprise and interest. “He might throw up on you.”

“Let’s hope not, shall we?” she retorts. “I quite like this dress.”

It’s very difficult to get Haymitch to his bedroom. She tries to get him upright but he’s too heavy and while Artemis wants to help and hovers next to her, he also doesn’t want to touch the victor. Lucie does what she can but a vixen is positively tiny next to the shape of a grown man.

Effie ends up dragging him down the corridor by his armpits.

He wakes up halfway through, asks her what the _fuck_ she’s doing and then throws up on the carpet and all over himself.

It takes her almost thirty minutes to get him to his bedroom. He’s uncooperative, Lucie is no help, and Effie is fed up long before she finally manages to dump him on his bathroom tiles. She hesitates next because he’s conscious but not that lucid and he’s covered in sick so she cannot in all good conscience put him to bed like that.

With a sigh and a string of obscenities muttered under her breath, she starts unbuttoning his shirt.

“We don’t like to be touched.” Lucie half-growls, half-whines.

Effie’s fingers pause but only for a second. “Then he should know better than to get himself in that state, shouldn’t he?”

Artemis surprises her by lying down next to Lucie, not close enough that their furs will brush but still near enough that she will be able to feel his warmth.

“It’s alright…” her daemon coaxes. “We won’t hurt you. We just want to help.”

Lucie is still fretting but she slowly sits down and, after a while, simply curls up between Artemis’ front paws. The tiger keeps them far enough apart that he won’t accidentally brush against her but he rests his big head next to her and lets out a low comforting purr.

Effie focuses on Haymitch. She doesn’t undress him entirely, she draws the line at his boxers. His eyelids are half open by the time she grabs a cloth and sets to work on cleaning him up – it would be quicker to just put him in the shower but then his underwear would be wet and she doesn’t want to have to deal with _that_. She tries not to stare at the huge scar on his side. She tries not to be too obvious when she curiously touches the chest hair – she’s never seen chest hairs before, men in the Capitol keep themselves groomed. She tries not to notice a part of him is very awake and enjoying her attention.

She helps him up and to his bed after and, this time, he leans on her and makes an effort to _not_ be a dead weight.

“Thank you.” Lucie says, jumping on the bed once she finished tucking him under the sheets.

“Do not mention it.” she answers quietly.

Haymitch’s hand briefly snatches hers as she turns away but he lets go just as quickly. She doesn’t say anything more. She doesn’t know what she _can_ say.

“I’m sorry…” she hears him mutters when she’s closing the door behind Artemis.

“I know.” Lucie sighs. “I know…”

Effie wonders how many times that poor vixen has been forced to go through something like this…

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> And so the sparks start flying... Who do you think win this round? Effie or Haymitch? Let me know your thoughts! I eagerly await your feedback!


	5. Intimacy Issues

Not only is Effie Trinket still here the next year but she wakes him up on Reaping Day by pouring a jug of water on his face.

He sputters and spits water, staring at her incredulously in the middle of his wet sheets – in his _fucking_ bedroom, in his own _fucking_ house in which _she shouldn’t be_.

“Lucie would not let me shake you awake.” she says as if it explains everything.

His daemon is standing at the foot of his bed, its tail swinging happily, apparently in a staring contest of her own with the tiger who _barely_ _fits_ in his bedroom, and not paying him any attention.

“Good. _Never_ startle me awake if you don’t wanna get hurt, that’s a rule for you.” he mutters, flicking his wet hair away from his face. “The _fuck_ are you doing here?”

“Language.” both Artemis and Lucie say at the same time.

Lucie is clearly mocking the tiger and she snickers as soon as the other daemon starts scowling. Effie is frowning at the vixen and Haymitch clenches his jaw and resolutely ignores how chipper his daemon is acting. They are _not_ glad to see Trinket and her tiger. No, they are _not_. Even though it’s the first social interaction they’ve had in at least a good month and she’s far more friendly than the guy who owns the grocery store – and who might or might not be related to one of the tributes he failed to save. 

What Trinket is doing here soon becomes clear once he’s forced to shower, then to submit to her cutting his hair – and he hates the thought of anyone coming so close to his face with scissors but he’s given a choice between her and a prep team and she’s the least of two evils. After that, she bribes him into shaving with a thermos of delicious coffee and coaxes him into putting on a new suit she brought. Once he’s deemed presentable enough for the Reaping she turns toward Lucie with her hands on her hips. “When is the last time Haymitch groomed you?”

Turnabout’s fair play but he can’t say he enjoys Lucie’s anxiety when Trinket asks her to hop on the kitchen table and starts brushing her fur. The escort is _very_ careful not to touch her and she’s wearing gloves anyway so even if she made contact it wouldn’t be _that_ terrible… Even so, they only last a minute before Haymitch gives in the urge and takes the brush from her to finish the job himself. It takes longer for his daemon to stop trembling at the thought of being touched by someone else.

Artemis has placed his head on the table and is watching her with curious eyes.

“I love it when Effie grooms me.” he hums to the other daemon in what Haymitch supposes to be an attempt at comforting her. “It is _nice_. Why are you so afraid?”

Trinket buries her fingers in the thick white fur at the base of her tiger’s nape and waits for the daemon’s answer, looking just as curious.

“We can’t all be pompous peacocks, kitty.” Haymitch retorts harshly when Lucie buries her snout under her - newly free from matted fur – tail, unwilling to explain herself.

Like always, the tiger shakes his body angrily at being called a cat.

“I suppose there is no convincing you to wear a ribbon, Lucie?” Trinket politely cuts in.

“No.” Haymitch answers and carefully scoops the vixen up in his arms. He doesn’t remember the last time he purposefully touched her. A month earlier? Two? He holds her close until she’s recovered enough to perch herself on his shoulders. She stays there for the rest of the day.

OOO

The female tribute’s daemon hasn’t settled yet.

Effie follows Haymitch down the train’s corridors all the way to the bar car and berates him about the tactical advantages it can provide in the arena.

“He’s gonna settle before we reach the city.” he interrupts her at some point.

“You _cannot_ know that.” she argues.

From its perch on Haymitch’s shoulder, Lucie shakes her head. “They always do.”

“But…” she insists.

“Oh, come on, Trinket! How stupid are you?” her victor explodes.

She huffs in offense but anger doesn’t rise up. Artemis leans against her leg, understanding a second before she does.

The daemon will settle as soon as it sinks in the girl is going to her death.

Effie sits down on a stool and accepts the glass Haymitch hands her, petting Artemis’ head with her free hand.

 _Unfair_ screams a voice in her mind.

It’s hard to make it fall silent, harder still to convey to Artemis he shouldn’t say it aloud. 

OOO

The fighting takes a weird turn that year.

They still disagree on everything, they still argue from dawn to dusk and they still shout so loud at each other it’s often impossible to actually _hear_ what the other is saying.

But now the fights often end with one of them invading the other’s space and there’s often one of these weird moments when they stare at each other, breathless and panting, and for a second there… _For a second_ …

Haymitch is often hard when he tears himself away from these tense moments.

And when he jerks off, he often thinks about her blue eyes glaring daggers at him.

OOO

It’s getting out of control.

Effie knows it. She sees it. She _feels_ it.

Every time they fight and they end up so close, her heart stuttering in her chest, she has to tear herself away to stop herself from kissing him.

Worse, she’s starting to wonder why kissing him would be such a bad idea.

OOO

He doesn’t notice their daemons’ behavior until Chaff comments on it.

It’s a joke, a gibe because teasing Haymitch about how long it will take before he finally caves and _fucks_ his escort is his best friend’s new favorite pastime.

Lucie is all the way on the other side of the mentor’s lounge with their escort and he’s sitting at the bar with Chaff and Lim, not interested in whatever debate his daemon and the big cat have going on now. If he and Trinket are always fighting, their daemons are always finding excuses to bicker.

But it’s not before Chaff jokes about it that he notices.

Lucie’s front is slightly lower than her bottom, she’s wriggling her butt a little and the tiger looks like a cat about to pounce on a mice.

They don’t look like they’re fighting.

They look like they’re _playing_.

Lucie drags them both back to them eventually, daemon and woman, and Haymitch rolls his eyes long before they get there, refusing to admit a part of him actually _wants_ her nearby so they can argue again, so they can end up standing too close and breathing the same air and feeling that _tension_ …

“Finished with your foreplay?” Lim mocks when Lucie scrambles on one of the stools. The monkey is on her immediately, hanging from her neck and playing with her bushy tail… Lucie tries and fails to catch her until they both stumble off the stool and onto the floor directly at the tiger’s feet.

It’s not the first time Chaff and Trinket meet or are forced to be in the same general vicinity but his escort avoids Eleven’s victor as much as she can. She didn’t appreciate his special brand of welcome the first time he introduced them – she’s stuck up and she doesn’t like being kissed on the mouth apparently – and, to be fair, Chaff has a bad tendency to try and grope her when he can get away with it.

Haymitch told him to stop doing that but he doesn’t want to get in a fight with his best friend over it. She’s a big girl. She can take care of herself. 

“You’re playing, big fella?” Lim asks and jumps as if to climb on the tiger. She aims for the ridiculous red bowtie around the daemon’s neck.

Artemis jerks back in a swift move to avoid her, letting out a low growl that startles everyone near them.

Trinket immediately places a hand on his neck, buries her fingers deep in his fur, with a disgusted look for the monkey that has crashed on the floor and who, vexed, swiftly climbs back to settle on Chaff’s head.

“Please control your daemon.” she hisses, her tone clipped and barely polite.

“She wasn’t doing anything wrong.” Chaff huffs. “You need to get that pole out of your ass, love.”

“ _We_ were not raised in a barn. We do _not_ cavort with daemons we do not know.” she snaps and storms away. The tiger’s fur stands on end and his tail twitches ungracefully even as she smiles and laughs the incident off when concerned Capitols approach her. Already, the gossip mill starts running. 

“What a _bitch_.” Chaff scoffs, petting Lim with his good hand.

Haymitch wisely chooses to take a sip of liquor and remain silent.

Lucie stares at him, clearly expecting something.

She looks disappointed when he doesn’t deliver.

“I don’t like daemons I don’t know touching me either.” she growls.

Chaff watches her, watches Haymitch and changes the subject.

OOO

Haymitch has caved to Effie’s wishes and they’re discussing possible angles for the tributes interviews when Artemis finds the courage to approach Lucie.

She’s further away from the couch the humans are sitting on that he’s comfortable with, all the way to the bay windows. The anxiety when he reaches the end of their range is immediate but he soldiers on even if he can feel Effie’s eyes on him, hear the catch in her voice…

It’s painful but not unbearable. It feels a little like a hand has his heart in its grasp and is squeezing it. But the squeezing isn’t too bad and he fights the urge to rush back to her side.

It must be something like thirteen feet between them. A new record.

Lucie watches him come to her, watches him _struggle_ but doesn’t move closer to make it easier for him.

There’s a lull in the conversation behind him.

“You’re alright?” Haymitch asks, taking pain to sound more detached than concerned. “Here, have a drink…”

The view from the bay window is beautiful. Artemis loves heights. The taller the building, the happiest he is. It feels like he owns the world.

He studies the vixen, not quite sure how to proceed. She takes pity though.

“Whatever it is, just ask.” Lucie mocks. “Your human’s in pain.”

He glances back but Effie is clenching her jaw and trusting he’s putting them through this for a reason. She swallows and turns back to Haymitch to resume their conversation. The victor doesn’t look worried but, Artemis notices, he’s also watching her far more attentively than he was a minute or so ago. Haymitch doesn’t wear masks like Effie does but he’s good at faking disinterest, Artemis already noticed.

“You said you did not like to be touched…” he hesitates.

Lucie flicks her tail, betraying her annoyance. “Yes.”

He tilts his head, studies her more attentively and _thinks_ … “Are Haymitch and Chaff in an intimate relationship?”

Haymitch chokes on his whiskey and gives up the pretence of not listening to their conversation.

“What the…” He stops suddenly and switches tracks. “Oh for _fuck’s_ sake! Come back here before she faints, kitty!” 

The pain is a steady throb beneath his ribs now and he doesn’t like it so he leaps back in range and lands right next to the couch. The pain stops immediately but the experience was so uncomfortable, he drapes himself over Effie’s lap. She wraps her arms around him and closes her eyes.

At no point does he bother reminding Haymitch his name is _not_ ‘kitty’. What’s the point? The man will keep on calling him what he pleases. The temptation to find a debasing nickname for him is real but the daemon refuses to stoop as low as the victor.

“I’m not having sex with Chaff!” Haymitch sputters next, glaring at the two of them. “Not that it’s any of your business but I don’t swing that way. What even…”

“But your daemons are so…” Effie hesitates, letting her sentence trail off.

Lucie joins far more slowly without showing the smallest sign of discomfort.

“Lim is different.” she answers simply. “I don’t mind her touching me. It feels good.”

“Why?” Artemis insists. He doesn’t understand.

“They’re _family_.” Haymitch sighs. “Chaff’s like my brother.”

Artemis looks at Effie and averts his eyes just as quickly, barely repressing a shudder. The idea of cuddling with Leon is… unwelcome. Just as preposterous perhaps as the thought of cuddling with Jilo.

“I see.” Effie says.

“Do you?” Haymitch scoffs, studying them both. “How come you’re so shocked? I’ve seen Capitol daemons being all over each other before… Ain’t like it’s not done in the city…”

Effie wrinkles her nose. “How _undignified_.”

Artemis shakes his head. “I would _never_. I am a _gentleman_. Gentlemen do not make spectacle of themselves by acting like mere animals.”

Lucie jumps on the couch and sits next to Haymitch’s thigh, a little too close to Artemis’ snout for comfort. She’s looking at him in that way that means she’s amused.

“You’ve never touched another daemon before.” she accuses.

Haymitch’s eyebrows shoot up and he looks at Effie as if he suddenly finds her riveting.

Effie, for some reason, blushes.

“Bit of intimacy issues, sweetheart?” the victor taunts.

“We simply do not like it.” Artemis huffs. And perhaps it is a bit of a lie. He still remembers how nice it felt when he was allowed to cuddle with her grandfather’s lynx. But never since has he touched another daemon, not even Stelan’s parrot and Stelan remains Effie’s steadiest relationship to this day. “You should understand. You are the one who claims she hates to be touched.”

Lucie has no good retort to that.

OOO

Haymitch and Trinket are fighting again although Lucie thinks Lim is not wrong when she calls it _flirting_.

They’re on their way back from a party at a club, walking down the street because their escort wanted fresh air and even with the tiger daemon – and despite his claims – Haymitch isn’t comfortable leaving a woman to go home alone in the middle of the night and they’re at it again, trading insults and taunts. Lucie can see Haymitch actually _enjoys_ it. He’s coming alive when they’re arguing.

It doesn’t hurt that Trinket can actually hold her own and match him wit for wit. She gives him a run for his money sometimes and Haymitch likes that, likes that she gets the last word as much as he does, likes that she can’t help that smug grin when she wins, likes that she will pout when she loses… 

Lucie doesn’t realize she’s lagging behind until the escort glances over her shoulder with a pained wince and the tiger reduces some of the distance between them and the humans. Lucie quickens her steps to catch up through the force of habits.

Although she doesn’t really know when it _has_ become habits to walk next to the huge tiger, close enough to feel his warmth but not close enough that their fur will brush.

Artemis and Trinket really don’t have a lot of distance range. Anything further than six feet and they both start showing signs of discomfort.

Lucie can’t remember what her range with Haymitch used to be. Sometimes it feels like it wouldn’t even hurt if she just turned around and kept walking. She’s not sure he’d try to follow or stop her either.

“How far can you go?” Artemis asks suddenly as if he’s reading her mind. Or maybe she’s just that transparent.

He keeps his voice low but it’s not necessary. The humans aren’t paying them any attention.

They’re too busy making eyes like they want to eat each other alive, too busy disguising their lust behind carefully crafted gibes and lies… It’s a weird kind of dance they have going on. On that account Chaff isn’t wrong, it’s rare for him to make the chase last that long… Haymitch usually takes what he wants and the women are usually happy to comply… He’s actually enjoying it, the vixen supposes, because Trinket’s not eager to bend over for the Quell Victor. The escort wants to be in charge. The daemon isn’t sure how _that’s_ going to work with Haymitch’s inability to surrender or share control. They’re going to be explosive once they do the human thing and give in to their flesh’s desires, once they start behaving like a unit.

That woman will make Haymitch or destroy him for good, Lucie sensed it from the start.

Thinking about that makes her anxious for a whole lot of reasons so she focuses back on Artemis. She doesn’t mind the question. She knows he’s been wondering for a while. Artemis has a lot of questions but he knows to wait for _just_ the right moment to ask them. Trinket is like that too. She has a knack to get honest answers out of Haymitch. The victor deals in truths with their escort and Lucie doesn’t feel the need to lie to Artemis. 

“Far.” she answers vaguely. “I’m not sure. Last winter he went into the kitchen and I stayed in the living-room. He didn’t even notice. It was strained but it only became painful when he tried to get to the pantry.”

Artemis nods at that piece of information but it’s a sad nod and she doesn’t like his pity.

“He hates me, you know.” she volunteers anyway. “Not all the time but when he’s in a mood… He hates me.”

The tiger gasps and moves closer. Their furs brush. It’s nothing really. Just the tips of hairs coming into contact…

Trinket stumbles right into Haymitch and he mocks her high heels but he caught her and he isn’t letting go. She shoves and he tugs in the strangest waltz, all the while trading snide remarks.

“He can’t hate you!” Artemis growls. “It’s… You’re…”

Can tigers blush?

Trinket certainly can. Her cheeks are flushed.

“I didn’t use to look like this.” Lucie explains, shaking her shabby fur that’s too thin in some places, coarse… Her tail is permanently matted and there are balls of fur that sometimes become painful. She’s actually grateful Trinket forced Haymitch to put a brush to her fur before the Reaping. It’s the first time in years she feels slightly refreshed. “I was beautiful once.”

“I remember.” Artemis hums and then clears his throat as if he admitted too much. “You’re still beautiful though.”

It’s added in a polite tone, an afterthought almost, and she might have smiled if she were human.

“He sees me and he remembers what we did.” Lucie continues. She feels sad tonight. Which is weird because Haymitch looks elated as he flirts with their escort. But it’s another proof if they needed any that they’re completely out of touch, that Haymitch hates himself so much that he pushed her away so far they are barely the same person anymore. “And I hate when he drinks. I hate the man he became.”

“You _cannot_ say that.” Artemis looks agitated, his tail whipping the air as if what she’s saying is so terrible he can’t bear it. “Daemons do _not_ hate their humans… Humans do _not_ hate their daemons… It doesn’t exist… It’s… It’s _anathema._ ”

“Big word.” she mocks. “Did it hurt your brain?”

Artemis huffs in annoyance. “Be serious.”

Being serious… She’s always being serious. Haymitch is the one who treats life like a bitter joke of which he’s the butt.

Artemis and Trinket love each other so much… They’re one and the same, there’s no denying that. Always perfectly in synch. How can she explain to someone who never felt disconnected from their human, not even _once_ , that sometimes Haymitch wishes she would be golden dust in the wind? How does she explain that, sometimes, _she_ thinks it would be best for him to be dead too? For the two of them to be _free_?

It will pain Artemis if she says any of that. He cares for her just like Trinket cares for Haymitch. Lucie sees it even if Haymitch pretends they’re not friends. It will hurt them to know just how badly they hate themselves, this life… There’s nothing good in it. Nothing good.

But, she thinks looking in the tiger’s blue eyes, there _could_ be.

“Watch the other victors.” Lucie advises in the end. “We’re not the only ones who hate themselves.”

The tiger stubbornly moves closer again. “Well, _I_ don’t hate you.”

Lucie laughs but keeps her tone fond rather than mocking. “You _don’t_ say…”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Artemis doesn't hate Lucie, what a shock ;) But poor Lucie and Haymitch need hugs and a shock blanket! I'm not sure Chaff and Lim are really sold on Effie and her tiger though... What do you think? Let me know your thoughts! There will be a chapter tomorrow too so don't forget to tune in!


	6. A Big Thing

They have a huge row.

Effie ends up pinned to a wall, her dress bunched around her waist, her corset half undone and Haymitch inside her.

It’s rough and rushed and she doesn’t come.

OOO

Every fight ends with sex.

He refuses to admit he triggers the fights on purpose.

OOO

Every time she swears to Artemis it’s the _last time_.

It’s not even good.

OOO

Lucie rolls her eyes when Haymitch goes on a rant about how he’s never going to touch their escort again, how’s it all a big accident and he needs to find another lay.

OOO

Artemis yawns when Effie starts ranting about Haymitch.

OOO

Haymitch spends the whole year that follows telling himself it won’t happen again, that it’s out of their system now and it’s just as well.

“Can you breathe with your head so far up your ass?” Lucie taunts.

He tosses every pillows he owns at her for her troubles.

OOO

Effie is very determined to be professional this year but everything flies out the window the moment they’re back on the train.

She doesn’t know who starts the fight. She doesn’t really care either.

She ends up bent in two over the table in the dining room car and she enjoys every second of it.

OOO

He finally understands why her daemon is shaped like a huge tiger – aside for the obviously inflated ego.

She’s bigger than life and she knows how to use her own claws.

His back is covered with scratches that sting when he ends up sweaty and his thighs are covered with bite marks that he can spend hours staring at – not that he’s willing to admit he likes it.

She’s never looked better than she does naked and sweaty on white sheets and when she _orders_ him to finish her instead of running away, he cannot do anything but comply. She looks _that_ good.

He’s never bothered _pleasuring_ anyone before but there’s something to watching her come apart with bliss. It’s addictive. It becomes his favorite hobby.

OOO

They stop pretending it won’t happen again.

Effie starts meaningless fights just so she can push him against the wall and shove her tongue down his throat.

OOO

He fucks her in a sponsor’s garden during a party.

Lucie and Artemis stand guard for them and it’s the most thrilling thing he’s ever done.

OOO

Their tributes die.

When Haymitch reaches for her that day, she nudges his hand away.

He doesn’t push.

That’s one thing she likes about him, when she says no he doesn’t try to coax or guilt her into it.

OOO

Finnick Odair wins the Sixty-fifth Hunger Games and _shit_ hits the fan.

They haven’t argued _for_ _real_ for a long time. Most of the fights are prelude to sex nowadays, he even started to cave and actually helped a little when she tried to coach the kids and he can admit they’re _good_ when they work _together_ … So it’s somehow odd to find themselves seriously fighting again…

He’s been in a mood for a few days, since it became clear the boy was going to win.

Lucie is subdued, spends most of her time curled up with her tail on her snout, pretending the rest of the world doesn’t exist… Even Lim cannot shake her out of her gloomy mood… The only times she consents to take her tail off her nose is when Artemis lies next to her – never touching – and rests his big head next to her smallest one… She doesn’t uncurl or talk though but she tucks her tail under her belly and sometimes she just looks at the big cat with terribly sad eyes…

Haymitch knows what’s going to happen to the fourteen years old, he cannot help but remember his own glory days, and so he drinks too much and he doesn’t keep his temper in check…

Trinket’s been good at giving him space ever since his weird mood started but she’s in a frenzy over Four’s brand new victor. She’s a whirlwind of excitement, cheerfully dashing in and out of the penthouse with news, her tiger bouncing at her side – and a bouncing tiger is _frightening_ – telling him everything he doesn’t want to know about the boy.

The whole Capitol has gone mad for the kid. There are masses of people crowding the Games Headquarters to the point nobody is allowed to leave the building, not even through the discreet side doors.

Caesar calls it the _Odairmania_ on TV and the name sticks.

Haymitch doesn’t last two days before he’s fed up with her antics and he _blows up_.

And when he does, _everything_ spills out.

What will happen to the boy, what happened to _him_ and other victors… Not just the prostitution but the way some people _touch_ victors’ daemons like they have a right to, like they own them just because they had the dubious honor of winning a Game that will haunt them to the end of their lives…

He barely notices Lucie curling up in a tighter ball and whining. He barely notices the shock and the disbelief on Trinket’s face, only get madder when she tries to call him a liar…

He tells her everything then.

Every last sickening truth about her precious Capitol and what really happens in the Districts. He tells her about starving to death, about the punishments, about what happened to his own family and his girlfriend just because he _dared_ show up the Gamemakers…

He calls her names, tells her she’s complicit, tells her…

He only realizes she’s crying and has stopped defending herself and protesting when Artemis suddenly gets in his space, roaring with deafening grief. Haymitch stumbles back, knocks into the armchair, trips to the floor…

Trinket is crying so hard she’s shaking. The pain is unmistakable because it’s reflected in her daemon.

“Effie…” he whispers, regret and guilt battling in his chest… He reaches for her but Artemis is still between them and there is a mad glint in the tiger’s blue eyes that makes him recoil.

He doesn’t try to stop either of them when they stumble out of the room but he does flinch when he hears her bedroom door slam shut.

He flinches at Lucie’s accusative eyes too.

“They had to find out at some point anyway.” he snaps defensively.

It convinces neither of them

OOO

Effie sobs in her pillow until her face is a hot mess of tears and make-up.

It’s all too much.

Everything…

_Everything_ is too much.

What Haymitch said… What he says he’s been through…

Artemis lies on top of her, crushing her under his weight, purrs and nuzzles her neck but it doesn’t bring her any comfort…

“Why aren’t you upset?” she accuses mid-sob at some point.

Her daemon looks sad but he gently bumps his snout against her cheek.

“We already knew. You just didn’t want to see.”

OOO

The next morning, Haymitch wonders if he dreamt the whole ugly altercation.

Effie is being her usual chipper self, humming a cheerful tune as she butters her toasts… She greets him with a smile and a _good morning_ and it’s business as usual.

He would have believed her good mood if Artemis hasn’t looked so forlorn. The tiger is lying at her feet and doesn’t even look up when they come in.

Lucie makes a beeline for him and curls up in a tight ball between his front paws. The daemons don’t touch but they both relaxes.

Haymitch should probably be concerned about the strange friendship they seem to have struck.

Then again, that means he probably should be concerned with his own strange friendship with Trinket.

Trinket doesn’t break character, not once. He can barely tell her smiles are forced and without the tiger he would have dismissed her as another Capitol drone. But he hates seeing the usually lively daemon so sad.

When his escort stands up to get herself more coffee from the drink cart, keeping up a monologue about schedules and what not, he pieces apart a blueberry muffin. They’re his favorite but he knows Trinket has a weakness for them too.

“Kitty.” he calls, low enough that she won’t notice over the sound of her own voice.

Artemis looks up, only vaguely interested. At least until Haymitch flicks a piece of muffin his way. Daemons do not _need_ to eat but that doesn’t mean they don’t sometimes indulge and he knows her tiger has a sweet tooth. It’s Trinket who stops him from eating – and _that_ probably says something about her own relationship with food. 

He manages to covertly toss him half the muffin before the woman clears her throat. “Will you stop? You will make him fat.”

“You know he reflects the shape of your soul, yeah?” he mocks. “Is your soul fat?”

Apparently, commenting on the size of a woman’s soul is the equivalent of commenting on her dress size.

He’s lectured within an inch of his life and once they’re done bickering for the sheer pleasure of fighting without really fighting, he lets her push him on his bed and have her way with him.

He doesn’t like people on top of him but he makes an exception and he’s not really sad about it. Not when the view is so good and not when Artemis finally shakes off his gloom.

OOO

Effie never tries to talk about what he said.

For the most part, she tries to forget.

OOO

They’re not exclusive and he goes with other women.

It never feels as right or as good and he can’t look at his daemon without feeling some sort of weird shame afterwards. 

OOO

Effie goes out on several dates, has a few one night stands and refuses to admit she is bored out of her mind by every single one of them.

“I miss Lucie.” Artemis grumbles when the last boyfriend in line leaves her apartment, his parrot daemon flying behind him.

She misses Haymitch too but that’s not something she’s comfortable admitting.

OOO

“It’s alright to miss them.” Lucie chides him, in the middle of the night, curled up on the free pillow.

Haymitch sighs and fingers the old knife under his own cushion. “No, it’s not. It’s really _not_.”

OOO

On Reaping Day, Effie goes to his house early to make sure he’s ready. Haymitch is already awake this time and she’s barely through the door when he pins her against the wall and kisses her like his life depends on it.

It’s such a relief that she kisses back in kind and doesn’t protest that he will crease her dress when he starts touching her. She hops, locks her legs around his waist and urges him on.

She doesn’t notice their daemons have made a beeline for each other and that, if they’re not touching, they’re standing so close it’s almost the same.

OOO

When they fight that year their daemons start chasing and pouncing on each other instead of trading insults like they used to do.

It’s embarrassing and absolutely not discreet.

Haymitch berates Lucie a thousand times on the need to be _careful_.

Lucie just looks at him with that expression that means she’s smiling and she looks so happy he doesn’t have the heart to ever finish any of his lectures.

His vixen spends most of her time perched on his shoulder or curled up against him now. It’s good to have her close again.

OOO

Effie is not as amused with their daemons’ behavior as Haymitch claims he is for the public and the cameras, although she is just as quick to blame it on their volatile partnership as he does. It’s easier to convince Caesar their daemons fight because they hate each other, it’s easier to pretend they’re both very bad at brawling and that it ends up looking…

It ends up looking _exactly_ like what it is: a playful mockery of a chase.

In retrospect, she knew it was going to happen at some point. The way they’re playing every time she and Haymitch get into an argument – and they get in an _awful_ lots of argument even without the need to use it as an excuse for sex – it was _bound_ to happen.

Still, she’s shocked the first time Artemis actually leaps on Lucie in the middle of their play fight just as Effie’s delivering the perfect crafted line to win their argument. He pins the vixen to the floor with a big paw and a smug triumphant expression, careful not to crush her under his superior weight.

Effie gulps in a breath at the unexpected contact.

She feels Haymitch suddenly. Like his heart is beating under her hand and it’s…

OOO

He’s seen it coming.

He’s seen it coming a second before the tiger leapt which means Lucie probably saw it coming too and chose not to avoid it.

And then she’s pinned under the big paw and he can feel Trinket’s presence all over him and…

He expects his body to shudder because that’s been his reaction every time Lucie has brushed against a daemon that isn’t Lim, even Mags’ gentle sea turtle.

He doesn’t shudder. He breathes it in.

Trinket’s soul against his is warm and tingly and…

“I want you.” he blurts out.

“Yes.” she immediately answers.

OOO

It’s slow and tender like it’s never been before.

Their fingers are entwined on the pillow and Haymitch seems to delight in moving inch by inch, making her arch her back in bliss, making her mumble incoherent sentences…

When Artemis curls up around Lucie, _wraps_ himself around her, she feels it from her head to her toes.

Haymitch freezes on top of her.

The only sound in the room is their panting and Artemis’ purring.

For a moment, she’s scared Haymitch’s going to run off, that this is too much – and it _is_ too much, her daemon has never done that with another before and it’s _Haymitch_ and it’s a particularly _bad_ idea and… But then Lucie nuzzles Artemis’ neck and Haymitch starts moving again, dropping kisses on the column of her own throat…

OOO

Every time they’re alone, Artemis and Lucie are somehow tangled together.

She likes sleeping between his front paws and she likes it even better when he rests his big head on top of her slimmer body. She also likes nestling in the soft fur of his belly or curling up behind his neck, between his shoulder blades.

In a matter of days, she’s become an expert at sleeping there while he walks around.

OOO

Artemis is never as happy as when he’s allowed to touch Lucie.

She doesn’t always let him but he’s good at guessing when she wants her space and when she wants to be cuddled. He loves wrapping himself all around her. He loves it when she nuzzles his neck. He loves it when she lets out that low sound that isn’t quite a purr.

OOO

Haymitch watches his escort smoke, perched on the low wall of the roof, regularly taking sips of his flask.

He wants to say something about the pile of daemons at their feet but he doesn’t know how to address the subject without making it _a big thing_.

She meets his eyes, flashes him a small smile that doesn’t quite reach her eyes and he knows they’re in agreement.

There are things too dangerous to be acknowledged.

It’s easier to pretend nothing unusual is happening.

It would be easier without the daemons but as conflicted as he is about his relationship with Lucie he cannot imagine a world without his daemon in it. Not now that it feels like he finally found her again.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> And so they did the do XD What did you think? No chapter tomorrow since it's vampire day but I will see you on Monday! Don't forget to feed my addiction for comments !


	7. Nothing To Hide

Haymitch does a lot of things that infuriate her.

He makes her feel…

He makes her _feel_.

She doesn’t think she’s ever felt like _that_ before, not in this city where everything is fake.

With Haymitch everything is true and it’s a relief.

OOO

There is something inexplicably sexy to a naked woman curled up around a tiger.

Haymitch can’t put it in words but she’s so feisty and so carefree and such a predator when she wants to be that he thinks her daemon couldn’t have chosen a more perfect shape.

OOO

After a couple of years, she stops trying to date other people.

Her heart isn’t in it and Artemis snobs most of their daemons.

OOO

It’s five years in whatever they’re doing when Haymitch finally reaches for the wig.

He wants her naked. _Really_ naked.

So afterwards, while she’s basking in the afterglow and not quite back with him yet, he slowly but very efficiently slips pin after pin from the wig. It takes her two minutes to notice and he’s almost done when she grabs his wrist with a sudden urgency.

“No.”

It’s a word he’s always respected before. She says _yes_ to so many things that when she uses that word, he knows to immediately stop.

“I want to see you.” he insists, his tone turning pleading. His free hand wanders down her side, down her thigh… If he distracts her enough…

She relocates his hand to her stomach. “There is _nothing_ to see.”

He can hear Artemis getting agitated somewhere next to the bed where he and Lucie are curled up together, out of sight.

“Come on, sweetheart…” he coaxes, dropping enticing kisses on her collarbone. “I want you… All of you…”

“You won’t want to see _this_. Trust me.” she retorts firmly.

“You’re bald or something?” he teases and gets his arm slapped for his troubles.

Artemis moves away from Lucie but Lucie won’t have it and jumps on him, wrestles him back on the floor until he’s lying flat and she can nuzzle him…

“I am plain without my make-up and my wig. I haven’t dyed my hair in…” she tries to argue – a familiar tune, it’s not the first time he hints he wants the wig and the make-up off.

Lucie licks Artemis’ nose.

That’s new and Haymitch feels the same jolt of lust Effie must feel because there is suddenly more urgent activities to partake in than getting rid of a wig.

After though…

“Please.” he insists, nuzzling her neck.

“You will make fun of me.” she laments.

“I _always_ make fun of you.” He snorts, pressing a kiss between her breasts.

“Yes, but _this_ …” She’s a little breathless from his kisses.

“We would never hurt you, Effie.” Lucie says.

Haymitch wouldn’t have said it and certainly not like that.

She lets out a long sigh and rolls away from him. “Wait here.”

Artemis follows her into the bathroom and there’s a long conversation behind the closed door.

“Maybe we shouldn’t have pushed.” Haymitch acknowledges.

Lucie props her head on the mattress and watches him. “We didn’t push, we _asked_.”

Haymitch smirks. They both know better.

But then the door opens and she walks back in, looking more uncertain than he has ever seen her and he forgets to worry about having pushed her too far because…

“Gorgeous…” he breathes out, rising on his knees to reach for her.

She flushes and tries to tell him he doesn’t have to use false flattery but he doesn’t care because she looks beautiful with curly reddish blond hair he already knows he won’t ever get tired of playing with and he needs to have her again.

OOO

They are never lucky with stylists.

Effie tries her best but nobody wants to work for Twelve and she always has to hire people who do not truly meet her standards. Sometimes, she has so much troubles finding anyone at all that the Gamemakers assign them one.

One year, one of the stylists is so full of herself she makes the mistake or disparaging Twelve’s tributes – and _Haymitch_ when he starts shouting at her – right in the open. Effie does not stand for anyone talking badly of her District, her tributes or her victor. _Certainly not_ in the courtyard after the parade where every other District team can hear it.

She swiftly inserts herself between Haymitch and the stylist.

She does not shout, she does not raise her voice but what she says is worse and far more effective. She lashes out with words. She will ruin the woman’s carrier if it’s the last thing she does. As a stylist, she is finished.

It’s only once the woman is gone – reduced to tears – that she realizes Artemis is standing in front of Haymitch in a protective stance, fur bristled and eyes glaring daggers. Even his blue bowtie is askew.

She blushes when she sees the scene they’re making.

Haymitch, fortunately, is more amused than annoyed, not really one to take umbrage at a woman doing the – unnecessary – rescuing.

To their tributes’ puzzlement, Lucie jumps on top of Artemis as soon as they’re safe in the privacy of the elevator and nestles between his shoulders in a very practiced move.

Haymitch at least waits until the tributes have gone exploring the penthouse to wrap an arm around her and chuckle in her ear.

“My hero…” he mocks, his voice dripping sarcasm.

“Oh, will you stop!” she huffs. “I was just…”

“Being very hot.” he cuts her off. “So very _fucking_ hot… I like it when you flex your claws.”

She doesn’t contest that point.

OOO

During the Seventieth Hunger Games, Haymitch is lounging on the penthouse couch, nursing a drink when the elevator chimes.

Lucie betrays the flash of hope and eagerness in his chest by lifting her head from where she’s sprawled on top of his feet.

They’re out of the Games and Effie’s gone off to a luncheon at her parents’. He’s bored and he’d rather be spending the day in bed with her than drinking alone.

When Lucie jumps on the armrest, he uses the back of the couch to haul himself up in time to see the sad parade of his escort and her tiger striding in. Effie’s face is schooled into her usual bubbly expression but the tiger walks with his tail and his head hanging low.

He frowns. “What’s up with you, kitty?”

“I feel like a stoat.” Artemis grumbles and jumps on a free armchair to sulk. Lucie won’t have it naturally because if they’re in the same room, they _have_ to be tangled, and she leaps from the armrest to the armchair, landing on top of the tiger and making him huff.

“That’s slang or something?” Haymitch jokes, a little confused.

Before he can investigate further, Effie gracelessly flops down on top of him like she _hardly ever_ does. How improper, he thinks but doesn’t tease because whatever is happening he can tell she’s genuinely upset.

It’s his turn to huff as the breath is knocked out of his lungs though.

“And what’s up with _you_?” he asks once she’s neatly tucked between his side and the back of the couch, her leg hooked over his hip.

“I feel like a stoat.” she echoes.

“Stoats are cute.” Lucie declares. She’s licking Artemis’ head, sometimes playfully tapping his ear with her paw, and he’s letting her.

The daemon doesn’t look really comforted though and neither does Effie.

“Who _fucked_ with my tiger?” Haymitch grumbles, giving her a small nudge. “Come on, I’ll punch them for you…”

Although he can take an educated guess. He’s never met the mother but he heard enough.

Still, that makes her giggle.

If she’s giggling, it can’t be _that_ bad.

She props herself up, sliding her leg further down his stomach until she’s straddling him.

He allows it.

“Am I your tiger now?” she teases.

“You’re a pain in my ass.” he deadpans.

“You’re _my_ tiger.” Lucie declares, gently biting down on Artemis’ ear.

Effie’s whole body buckles and Haymitch is suddenly very hard.

The tiger’s huge body finally relaxes and he butts his head against Lucie’s with a soft sigh. “My love.”

The word makes both Haymitch and Lucie freeze.

Lucie jumps off him and is across the room in a matter of seconds.

Haymitch is slower in getting out from under Effie but he’s equally as quick scooping his daemon up and fleeing the penthouse.

OOO

Artemis feels like a stoat again.

Effie feels worse than that.

“I’m sorry.” Her tiger stretches on the empty side of the bed so she can hug him. “I didn’t mean to let it slip.”

Effie remains silent.

OOO

He leaves the city without seeing her again.

He tells himself it’s for the best.

Lucie spends the next year glued to his side.

Suddenly, they can’t bear to be more than six feet apart. The agony is not worth the distance and they don’t want the distance anymore anyway. They’re already missing something essential, they don’t need to miss each other on top of that. 

OOO

She has thought seeing him again at the Reaping would be difficult but it’s not. It’s awkward instead.

She’s overly polite and he’s overly drunk.

Artemis and Lucie are careful not to brush against each other. They do not so much as talk.

OOO

They don’t last two days.

He’s not even surprised to find himself pinning her to the elevator wall, his hand in her panties and his mouth devouring hers.

He missed her.

He _fucking_ missed her.

OOO

It takes longer for Artemis to allow Lucie to touch him again.

OOO

When the tiger finally allows Haymitch’s vixen to curl on top of him, it feels like coming home.

OOO

Effie is smocking on the roof and she wasn’t expecting Haymitch to track her down but she should have known better.

He hands her an empty glass and pours them both a generous amount of liquor. Her favorite too.

She knows he wants to say something he suspects she won’t like. She knows because he’s fidgety and he won’t look at her in the eyes.

“We can’t be like that.” he says quietly after too long spent in silence. “It’s…”

“Dangerous.” she supplies because she’s not stupid nor blind. Not anymore at least.

“Yeah, _that_.” He coughs, clearly relieved she’s not making a scene. “But, really, _I_ can’t… That’s not something I can give, Princess.”

She will accept the danger excuse, she will not accept a lie.

Not when their daemons are curled up together and she feels so warm inside.

“Truly?” she deadpans. “It could have fooled me.”

OOO

Haymitch and Lucie should know better than making silly bets with Effie and Artemis.

Somehow, she and the cat always end up winning.

That’s how Lucie is forced to wear a ribbon around her neck for the whole season.

OOO

The Games are terrible and she often feels so disgusted with herself for the part she plays that sometimes she cannot look at Artemis. Artemis pretends he doesn’t know, doesn’t see. Often, they worry they will end up like Haymitch and Lucie were a few years ago: unable to communicate, desperate to be away from each other, disconnected…

She always feels so guilty about these thoughts that she ends up wrapping herself around her daemon on her bed for hours.

OOO

Sometimes Haymitch regrets telling them the truth about the Capitol.

He sees it in Artemis particularly.

As bubbly and light and polite as they always appear to be, there are cracks in the veneer.

OOO

Artemis doesn’t mind being called _kitty_ any longer.

It secretly thrills him when Haymitch calls him that with his accent and his deep voice.

He feels young and small and cute and he loves it even more when the _kitty_ is followed by chuckles.

OOO

“Daemons make it difficult to hide some things.” Chaff warns one night.

They’re out at a bar, Finnick is teaching Seven’s brand new victor of a week how to play pool so the two of them have been left alone at a small table.

Haymitch watches Finnick’s seagull perched on his shoulder, shouting encouragements as he takes the next shot… He looks at the huge goanna at Johanna’s Mason’s feet, surveying the room like he’s looking out for troubles…

He doesn’t watch the way Lim and Lucie are sitting on either side of the table instead of playing like they used to do for so long. It’s been a while since they’ve been that carefree together. It’s been a while since he’s been carefree with Chaff too.

He loves the man like his brother, he _does_. But something came between them at some point in the last few years and that something is tiger shaped.

He cannot take much more of Chaff’s warnings or of his ugly crude jokes about a woman he knows Haymitch actually likes – they’re _friends_ if nothing else and, escort or not, _that_ should grant some measure of respect from Eleven’s victor.

“There’s nothing to hide.” he grumbles. “Nothing’s happening.”

That’s the biggest lie of all and while Caesar more or less helps them sell it for the public, everyone with eyes can guess what’s really going on between him and his escort. Their daemons are good at _not_ touching in public but they slip sometimes and it’s been a long time since anyone raised eyebrows because they saw the tiger and the vixen bumping into each other as they walk side by side – because they’re _always_ side by side.

Haymitch and Effie can sell the lie – they can even sell it to themselves if they try hard enough – but the daemons can’t. Even when they _pretend_ to bicker for show, the fondness is obvious.

Chaff shakes his head. “Walk away, buddy. It’s not gonna end well. For her or for you.”

Lucie growls. “How about you mind your own business, Chaff? We don’t tell you you’ve become…”

“Shut up.” Haymitch cuts her off and Lucie does because there are things you do not say to your best friend, not when you love them.

You do not tell them they’re often acting like a pig around women or that they’re turning into a man you don’t quite recognize. Bitterness, Haymitch can handle, but bitterness is driving Chaff into dark depths lately and he’s a little scared of how much he actually changed.

Or maybe, as Lucie often points out, it’s _them_ who have changed and not Lim and Chaff.

Haymitch always scoffs when she says that because Effie and Artemis aren’t a magical balm that healed festered wounds.

But maybe Effie and Artemis soothed them.

Because now he cannot bear the thought of being too far from Lucie and he makes sure to brush her tail more regularly so she doesn’t have clusters of dead fur that hurt her and it’s still painful to look at her and _remember_ but it’s also easier when she looks so _damn_ chipper at the thought of taking a nap on her very own tiger-shaped cushion.

Haymitch still hates himself but now he remembers there are some parts that are good. And most of these parts are Effie related.

“We’re just worried about you.” Lim snaps, rubbing her small stump. “You’ve got her under your skin.”

“She’s gonna be the death of you.” Chaff nods. “And I don’t want to bury you.”

Haymitch takes a gulp of whiskey and reports his attention on the kids.

“She’s not under my skin.” he scoffs as if it’s the best joke. “Come _on_.”

OOO

Haymitch often coils his hand around her nape.

Effie can’t tell if it’s something he started doing without thought or if he noticed the way she often digs her fingers in the fur at the back of Artemis’ neck and mimicked it.

Either way, she always feels the same thrill when he does that.

“We are _so_ in love with them.” Artemis mocks.

She gives him a gentle squeeze at the back of his neck and wishes for strong fingers wrapped around her own nape…

OOO

Sometimes during the Seventy-third Hunger Games, they’re talking about possible persona angles for their tributes even though the interviews are bound to be disasters, and Haymitch is pacing the length of the living-room to get rid of a cramp in his calf.

He doesn’t notice Artemis has moved while his back was turned and he bumps straight into him. It could have ended there if he hadn’t lost his balance and grabbed the closest thing to keep himself upright: the tiger.

Effie audibly gasps.

He lets go immediately and steps back, both hands raised in the air, heart beating far too fast with the horror of what he has just done.

“I’m sorry.” he says, his grey eyes darting from the tiger to Effie. “Sweetheart, I’m _sorry_ … Kitty, it was an accident, I _swear_. I wouldn’t…”

He would never touch anyone’s daemon. Not knowing how uncomfortable, painful and disgusting it felt when those grabby Capitols used to touch Lucie.

“It is alright.” Effie says, sounding shaky. “It’s… I am alright. Artemis?”

The tiger looks dazed and gives a whole body shake before going to Effie and leaning against her leg. “I am fine.”

“I’m sorry.” Haymitch offers again, so upset he scoops Lucie up from where she’s watching the scene unfold on top of an armchair.

“It is really alright.” Effie insists. “No harm done. Shall we get back to work?”

And just like that the incident is swept under the rug.

He’s so shaken by the thought he accidentally _violated_ her that he only realizes hours later the contact didn’t disgust _him_ , that it has actually felt…

“We liked it.” Lucie helpfully voices.

“Doesn’t matter.” he grumbles. “Never happening again.”

His daemon never shuts up when he wants her to. She doesn’t like it when he goes into denial mode.

“Maybe it’s like sex.” she hums. “Maybe it’s good when it’s with someone you like and when you’re okay with it.”

Haymitch does _not_ think about how it would feel if Effie touched Lucie. He does _not_.

OOO

“Now I know why you love his hands so much.” Artemis teases in the privacy of their bedroom.

He shakes his whole body again but, try as he might, he cannot get rid of the tingling feeling Haymitch’s fingers have left in his fur. He’s not quite sure he wants to.

“Attitude.” Effie chides, powdering her nose.

He checks his reflection in the big mirror: the burgundy bowtie is slightly crooked and he fixes it with his paw.

“It felt good.” he insists. “Didn’t it?”

Effie purses her lips because she does not want to admit the truth. She expected it to feel like a violation and instead it felt like a jolt of desire, like a soft caress on the most intimate part of her.

“I want him to touch me again.” Artemis voices because he knows she won’t.

“Do not _ever_ suggest it.” she warns. “And do not try to _accidentally_ touch him either. You know he is… They have been hurt before. _We_ cannot hurt them.”

Artemis shakes his head. _“Never_.”

“ _You_ have _Lucie_ and _I_ have _him_.” she says. “It has to be enough. We cannot force more on them.”

“It is enough.” he acknowledges. “This just felt so…”

_Intimate._

They finally understand why some couples who are married for so many decades are treating each other’s daemon like their own. Touch can be so good…

Effie doesn’t say but Artemis knows she wonders what Lucie’s fur would feel like under her fingers…

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Nope, there's nothing here, not at all. They're not in love. Nope.


	8. Liability

Katniss Everdeen’s daemon is a falcon and it remains nestled into the crook of her sister’s neck when she volunteers and walks up to the stage. Impressive range that might prove useful in the arena.

Haymitch sees it later on the images from the Reaping.

At the time, he’s too drunk to notice much more than the fact it all look too rebellious. He sacrifices himself by dropping from the stage. It’s better to be unconscious anyway, Effie will have his ass about the hug and the groping in front of cameras – and Artemis will probably have something to say about Lucie licking his snout in front of everyone too.

OOO

Peeta’s daemon is a golden retriever who doesn’t have a deceiving bone in his body – that, Effie knows, will be a problem.

She goes back to the living-room car when she’s calmed down after the Reaping recap to pick up Haymitch from the floor but the car is deserted.

“He wasn’t in any state to make it to his room.” Artemis remarks.

It’s stating the obvious but Effie retreats to the corridor and hurries to his bedroom all the same, not entirely surprised to hear Lucie’s irritated voice.

“I told you it’s fine.” the daemon is saying. “This won’t give you any brownie points so leave him alone and go to bed. Tomorrow’s gonna be a long day.” The vixen is agitated and pacing in front of Haymitch’s en-suite bathroom. She looks relieved when she spots Effie and Artemis. “Ah, here you are. Good. Tell him to go _away_.”

Peeta somehow carried Haymitch all the way to the bathtub and is now trying to clean him up. Haymitch’s shirt is already off, the sour smell of vomit coming from the corner where the fabric has been bunched.

Effie winces. “He _won’t_ thank you for that, dear. I will take over. You can go to bed.”

Peeta frowns, looks from her to the victor. “He’s too heavy for you. I can help.”

“We _don’t_ need you.” Lucie snaps.

“ _Manners_. Do not be rude.” Artemis chides her, nudging her with his head.

Peeta’s eyes boggle at that and he exchange a glance with his own daemon.

“But he’s touching him!” the vixen exclaims, clearly upset. She looks at Effie with pleading eyes and Effie sighs.

“We were just helping.” Peeta’s daemon huffs. “Don’t make it sound like _that_.”

“You did not have to take care of him, dear.” Effie cuts in before it can escalate. “Thank you for that. Go to bed now, tomorrow will be a big big _big_ day!” 

Peeta looks unconvinced but in the end he and his daemon say their goodnight and leave. Lucie lets out a sigh of relief and nestles against Artemis, happy to let Effie finish what the boy has started.

“We _don’t_ like being touched.” she reminds them grumpily.

“We know.” Artemis soothes her, licking the top of her head. “You behaved _very_ badly at the Reaping. We are _very_ crossed with the two of you.”

Effie purses her lips because the obvious affection in her daemon’s voice negates any impact their anger could have had. She quickly and expertly washes Haymitch, pursing her lips harder when he finally opens his eyelids. For all she knows, he might have been conscious all the while and playing dead.

Sometimes she thinks Lucie should have settled as an opossum instead of a vixen.

“Be crossed tomorrow.” Lucie retorts, snuggling even closer to the tiger. “We missed you too much.”

“We missed you too.” Effie whispers, sliding her hand down his jaw.

“Wanna _fuck_ you.” he mumbles.

“Too bad you are so drunk then, isn’t it?” she taunts. “What were you _even_ trying to pull at the Reaping, Haymitch?”

“Told you, didn’t she?” he slurs, reaching for her face. “Missed you…”

She feels herself soften and shakes her head at her own weakness when he’s concerned.

She helps him out of the bathtub and dries him as well as she can. She lets him cope a feel here and there but avoids his clumsy attempts at kissing. It takes her a while to locate his toothbrush and it’s only when he brushed his teeth that she consents to peck his lips.

“Bed.” she orders.

He wiggles his eyebrows. “Bed’s good.”

She rolls her eyes but manages to get him between the sheets and all tucked in. The problem is he doesn’t want to let go of her waist and his grip is like iron.

“Stay.” Lucie whines, nuzzling Artemis’ neck. “ _Stay_.”

She understands the daemon doesn’t want her cuddle time cut short – hell, _she_ wouldn’t have minded some cuddle time herself but Haymitch is beyond drunk and she’s never done anything with him when he isn’t able to properly consent.

“He’s in no state to…” Effie argues.

“Just sleep.” Haymitch cuts her off, his voice slurred. He sounds tired and he looks like he’s about to drop off asleep. He still tugs on her waist. “Sweetheart…”

Artemis is giving her a pleading look and she relents with a sigh because she doesn’t want to leave to sleep in her own cold bed either. She unclips Artemis’ bowtie and take off her wig and her dress. She does what she can for her make-up with the limited range of products in Haymitch’s bathroom.

She expects him to be asleep by the time she gets between the sheets but he immediately wraps himself around her like an octopus and breathes in the smell of her shampoo.

“My knife.” He remembers suddenly, feeling around under the pillow.

“The boy took it from your belt.” Lucie supplies. “It’s on the dresser.”

“Good.” he mutters and before Effie can say anything, she’s trapped in his embrace once more and treated to a wet kiss on the cheek. “Don’t go away again. We miss you and it hurts.” He doesn’t know what he’s saying, she knows, but still her heart beats faster when he adds under his breath “Like you’re my own _fucking_ daemon.”

OOO

Haymitch wakes up paralyzed.

At least, that’s what it feels like until he opens his eyes and realizes that his legs are simply crushed down by a five hundred pounds daemon. Artemis is sprawled at the foot of the bed with a sleeping Lucie curled up on his side, a puddle of red on the white fur. He meets the arctic blue eyes of the tiger and glances down to find Effie curled up against his own side, still asleep.

“Hi.” he mumbles, rubbing his face with the arm that’s not wrapped around his escort.

“Hello, Haymitch.” Artemis answers, sounding very amused.

They’re not touching, not really, there are the sheets and the blankets between them but, still, it feels a little weird to have half his body trapped under her daemon.

“What happened?” he asks.

“Neither of you would let us leave.” the tiger teases. “You were _very_ vocal about missing us too much.”

He doesn’t know what to make of that, barely remembers anything from the previous day aside for the fact a girl volunteered and the whole District lost his mind with their defiant show of unity… So he decides to deflect because it seems like the safest of a lot of bad options.

“You know… Maybe Effie’s got a point about you getting fat, kitty…” he taunts. “You’re _fucking_ heavy.”

He gives an experimental kick to nudge him away but the tiger seems to delight in sprawling even more, pressing more of his weight on top of his legs. He stretches a very long paw that lands not very far from his groin and flexes his claws. “ _Am_ I?”

The move must have disturbed Lucie because she slides down the tiger’s side and stomps over Effie to curl up against the small of their escort’s back.

Haymitch pauses but the sheets and blankets are just as much protection against actual contact as they are between him and Artemis. Besides, Effie is awake now so there’s no risk of her accidentally touching his daemon.

Haymitch _knows_ she’s awake because he can feel her tensing with the proximity of a daemon that isn’t hers.

“Effie, Haymitch says we are heavy.” Artemis complains in a whiny tone.

“ _You’_ re heavy. Never said anything about Effie.” he corrects automatically. “Don’t get me in trouble, kitty.”

The pet name used to be derogatory but he can’t help the touch off fondness in it now.

“Trouble is your middle name.” the tiger snorts. 

“You’re a pain.” he retorts.

“Why are you flirting with my daemon at four in the morning?” Effie grumbles.

“True.” He snorts, his hand finding her breast. “There are better things to do.”

Lucie and Artemis both sputter and grumble when they are unceremoniously kicked off the bed.

OOO

She’s never seen Haymitch so invested in tributes before and it scares her just as much as it thrills her.

She feels it too.

They might have survivors this year.

OOO

He can make the girl win.

He _knows_ he can.

He refuses to listen to Lucie’s words of caution, to her warnings that they’re getting too invested.

He knows a victor when he sees one.

OOO

Seneca’s daemon is a beautiful monkey with a golden fleece that’s always impeccable.

His daemon is flicking her tail with irritation and watching Effie the whole time it takes her to convince one of her oldest friends to go along with Haymitch’s plan and the star-crossed lovers story.

Later, once Seneca is dead and the daemon is nothing more than golden dust, it’s that look on the monkey's face she will remember, the way she was watching her as if she was wondering what Effie’s angle was, which side she was on.

OOO

Haymitch never expects to save both kids.

He knows there will be a final twist because two victors are unheard of and it makes for a better show that way.

He doesn’t expect the berries.

 _Nobody_ expects the berries.

“What the hell is she doing?” Lucie gapes when, on screen, Katniss takes out the pouch full of nightlock.

In the penthouse, everybody tenses. Haymitch stands up to better watch, Effie clutches his forearm, Cinna leans forwards elbows on his knees, Portia is clutching her glass so hard it might break…

“That is bad.” Artemis growls and automatically comes to stand over Lucie’s smallest shape even though they have been very careful to keep contact to a minimum in front of their stylists. “That is very, _very_ bad.”

Very _very_ bad doesn’t cover it in Haymitch’s opinion but when Claudius Templesmith announces the victors of District Twelve, he still cheers and catches Effie when she tosses herself at him with a shriek of joy.

Euphoria is sweet but short-lived.

Peeta loses the leg. Worse, he has no clue that the whole thing is a sham.

Katniss won’t be easily directed and her daemon is threatening to peck the eyes out of anyone who touches his girl.

The Gamemakers are breathing down their necks.

OOO

Everywhere they go, Lucie always remains in front of both Effie and Artemis like a daemon body shield.

It’s an incongruous sight to see a vixen protecting a tiger, a little funny too, but Effie and Artemis feel all the better for it.

The Capitol always felt somehow unsafe but right now there is danger lurking in every shadow despite the smiles and the congratulatory hugs.

OOO

Cinna’s daemon is a slick Siamese cat, always calm, always quiet. Always giving the impression of lying in wait.

When he recruits him into a rebellion his friends had apparently all more or less been part of for years, Haymitch hesitates a moment before saying yes. The cat daemon looks disappointed by that second of wavering.

It’s not that Haymitch doesn’t want to change the world and free Panem from the tyranny of the Capitol. 

It’s that he has other people to consider before himself.

The kids have to come first and foremost now.

And aside from the kids, he has to consider who will suffer if he is caught…

OOO

Effie and Artemis love the children as if they were theirs and that, she supposes, will become a problem.

Love in the city is always a liability.

Katniss doesn’t much care for them, she knows. Her daemon is distrustful of anyone who isn’t Haymitch’s or Peeta’s. To everyone’s surprise, the falcon flies straight at Lucie when the girl’s released from the hospital and nestles on her body while Katniss hugs Haymitch hard.

Artemis is forced to learn to share his time with Lucie because after that, Katniss’ daemon often seeks the vixen’s warmth and won’t move for hours.

OOO

Haymitch says yes to Cinna because in the end, there’s no real other choice. The children are already in danger and he doesn’t trust any of the Gamemakers. This is the safest bet for them.

“It’s the safest best if we want a future with Effie and Artemis too.” Lucie points out because she likes to say out loud what he doesn’t want to acknowledge.

“We don’t want a future with them.” he grumbles. “It ain’t like that and you know it. We don’t want that.”

Lucie rolls her eyes, turns her back on him and refuses to talk to him all day. She does talk to Effie and Artemis though.

OOO

Katniss’ daemon doesn’t ever come anywhere near Artemis but Peeta’s golden retriever often leans against the tiger’s side.

She’s still adjusting to her missing leg and Artemis is only too happy to help her stand.

Effie will never admit out loud that Peeta is her favorite.

But Peeta _is_ her favorite.

Katniss is rash, difficult and often aggressive. She reminds her of Haymitch when she first met him. It hurts more than she’s able to say because she knows there’s nothing she can do to help.

OOO

It’s terrible to watch Peeta’s daemon lose his spirit when Katniss tells him it was all for show.

For weeks the boy and the dog daemon live in the Village all alone. They avoid Haymitch and the girl.

OOO

Seneca commits suicide.

Effie knows better than to believe the story.

She and Artemis live in constant terror that they will be next.

There are black cars and strange men following them everywhere they go.

OOO

Haymitch spends the months leading up to the Tour checking the news on TV, deducing what he can from the shortage of shrimps coming from Four or the sudden delivering problems from Eleven.

OOO

“I wish Haymitch and Lucie were here.” Artemis murmurs to her at one of her mother’s luncheons.

They are not feeling like stoats yet despite Jilo’s glaring from half the room away – being part of the Hunger Games’ winning team actually won Effie some approval lately – but there are Gamemakers in attendance and while they are all being very cordial, almost all of them give her and Artemis _looks_ behind their backs.

Artemis catches more than one of their daemons staring.

He doubts they’re admiring him.

“Chin up, eyes bright, smile on.” Effie answers tersely.

The tension she feels doesn’t show on her face or in her behavior but she only breathes more easily once the guests are gone and Elindra is berating her for not making enough of an effort to flirt with the marriage prospects she pointed out to her.

OOO

He’s never regretted tearing his phone off the wall before.

He does now.

He knows Effie checks in with Peeta at least once a week to make sure the boy doesn’t have any problem with the prosthetic leg and is doing the exercises his doctor recommended – at least that’s the excuse, Haymitch suspects she just wants to make sure the boy isn’t too lonely.

He and Lucie have to be happy with secondhand comments about her.

“They’ll be fine.” Lucie tells him but she doesn’t sound convinced. “They’re the best at playing the game.”

Crane wasn’t bad at playing the game either and Cinna already got word to him about his so-called suicide. He hopes Effie didn’t take it too hard because he knows the two of them had a weird friendship – one he didn’t like – and he can respect that. He also hopes Crane will be the only casualty.

He’s worried.

Of course, he’s worried.

If anything happens to her or her ridiculous cat…

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> The game is ooooon. The kids are here. Things are about to get seeeerious. What do you think?


	9. A Heap On The Carpet

The Tour starts badly, drags on into a slow torture and only ends up worse.

Effie and Haymitch both exhaust themselves writing and rewriting speeches in hope of making them less of an invitation to outward rebellion and more of a propaganda about the Capitol’s greatness.

They try to coach the children into acting more in love. They try to teach them to play the game. Artemis and Lucie coax, cajole and plead with Katniss and Peeta’s daemons, try to _show_ them how to behave.

It is a disaster.

Katniss is hopeless at it and she and Effie clash more often than not.

She always regrets losing her patience afterwards and the girl almost always comes to apologize – although Effie suspects Haymitch _makes_ her a lot of the time – but it only adds to the unpleasant tension on the train.

The only good thing to come out of it is that Haymitch spends almost every night in her room. For the first time in weeks, she actually _sleeps_ more than a fistful of restless hours. It’s not the guilt keeping her awake anymore, it’s the fear. But with Haymitch’s arms around her and Lucie lying curled up somewhere on the pillow behind his head, she feels safe.

It’s three weeks before he stops complaining about Artemis sleeping on top of their legs – and it takes Artemis actually flopping down on top of him, careful not to actually _touch_ , threatening to crush him to death if he implies again that they are fat.

She suspects he actually likes it when her tiger curls up on top of him over the blankets.

Probably as much as she does when Lucie nestles against her stomach or the small of her back, always making sure to keep a barrier of fabric between them.

It’s a good thing the Capitol believes in extremely large beds though.

OOO

The engagement idea is an excellent one, which makes it even more surprising that it comes from Katniss.

Haymitch cannot help but feel for Peeta though.

The whole engagement special is a pain to go through despite Caesar doing his best to keep it light. The kids are both exhausted when they finally come back to the penthouse. They both excuse themselves to their respective room and Haymitch retreats to the roof for a glass and some quiet time, leaving their escort to entertain the stylists.

He’s not surprised when Effie and Artemis eventually join them though.

The daemons immediately curl up together, whispering things Haymitch can’t hear and that he doubts he would like. Lucie is very stubborn about expressing things _he_ doesn’t want to express.

Effie leans against his side and he puts his glass down to hold her close. She lets out a soft sigh and rests her head on his shoulder.

“I feel sorry for the boy.” she says.

“Me too.” he admits.

He feels sorry for both of the kids really but the boy truly got the short end of the stick.

They stay like that for a while and Haymitch closes his eyes, simply enjoying the peacefulness of the moment. They’re swaying a little, he can feel her inside his chest because Lucie settled in her favorite spot between Artemis’ paws, and it’s almost perfect.

Until she lets out a regretful sigh. “After the Quell… I have been asked to step down. Next season will be my last Games.”

His jaw clenches and he tightens his hold.

He’s seen it coming. She’s not exactly twenty anymore but he still hoped they would have more time together. And the fact that they’re asking her _now_ instead of telling her after the Quell hints that this is a punishment and he doesn’t like it one bit.

He desperately wants her far from the line of fire, that’s why he told Cinna to _not_ bring her on the rebellion board. That it was him or her but he had to choose. He doesn’t want her involved. He wants her to be able to claim ignorance when _shit_ hits the fan.

And _shit_ _will_ hit the fan. 

“The Quell’s six months away.” he answers. “Lots of things can happen in six months.”

“Can a miracle happen?” she deadpans bitterly.

He kisses her hard and refuses to acknowledge Lucie may have a point and maybe he has more selfish motivations to see this war through than simply freeing the country. “Who knows, sweetheart.”

OOO

She gets to call him every three days under the silly excuse of planning the wedding.

She talks his ear off about flower arrangements, decorations, themes and ice sculptures while he makes dry sarcastic comments. Sometimes she hears Lucie laughing behind him.

It feels a little like it’s _their_ wedding she’s planning and she often gives in to the fantasy.

She goes as far as sketching herself the wedding dress of her dreams.

When Portia accidentally unearths it from the pile of papers on her desk one night as they’re getting ready for a party, Effie mutters about stress-doodling and how wedding obsessed she has become. She laughs it off but it doesn’t convince Portia and it doesn’t convince her otter daemon.

“I can make it for you, you know.” Portia offers later that night, once they’re very much in their drinks. “My pleasure.”

“I will never be able to wear it.” she laments.

She’s admitting everything with that sentence but Portia doesn’t judge.

Effie is not sure exactly when it happened but in the midst of this craziness since the Seventy-Fourth Reaping, she found a best friend.

OOO

It feels like Effie’s planning their own wedding.

Haymitch is overwhelmed by all the flowers they could possibly use, the choices they have to make about the food and the numbers of cake flavors that exists in the city. He knows the kids won’t care a bit one way or another and he’s not sure why _they_ are so invested aside from the fact it allows them to talk every couple of days.

“When all this is over, we should have a toasting.” Lucie says seriously from her perch on the kitchen table.

Haymitch stares at her long and hard but his daemon won’t allow him to deflect anymore.

“If we’re not dead.” he deadpans.

“If we’re not dead.” Lucie acknowledges.

Neither of them are particularly optimistic about their chances but, then again, optimism is why they keep Effie and her tiger around.

OOO

There are things Haymitch isn’t telling her.

When he calls to warn her the wedding dresses photoshoot has to be pushed back a little because Katniss injured her face, she frowns and asks what is going on.

He won’t give her a straight answer.

It takes two calls to Peeta, some coaxing and a lot of reading between the lines before she figures out there are new Peacekeepers in Twelve and they’re overzealous.

OOO

“We worry about you.” the tiger blurts out.

Haymitch stops watching Effie getting dressed to look at Artemis. He’s still lounging naked on his bed, his body sated even though he could have gone for a second round given enough time. They _don’t_ have time. Portia is covering for their absence at the wedding dress photoshoot but Effie will be missed sooner rather than later. Half an hour is all they can steal.

“Don’t.” Haymitch shrugs. “We’re fine.”

“How are you managing with alcohol?” the tiger insists despite Lucie’s irritated flicking of her tail.

“We don’t need you to take care of us.” she grumbles. “We can manage.”

“How? By throwing yourself in front of a Peacekeeper’s gun?” Effie challenges.

Haymitch’s mouth thins into an annoyed line. “The boy’s been telling tales…”

Effie closes her eyes and takes a deep breath before walking closer to the bed, turning her back on him so he can lace her corset and then zip up her dress. His fingers aren’t as steady as he would like. With Ripper out of commission, he’s been rationing his liquor.

“I do not blame you for protecting the children.” she whispers. “I like to think I would do the same thing in the same situation. But…”

“Stay away from Peacekeepers.” he cuts her off, pressing a soothing kiss on her nape. “Keep being the perfect doll, sweetheart. Now’s not the time to develop a personality.” She purses her lips and glares at him over her shoulder but Haymitch doesn’t falter. “I mean it. We’ll be fine. We know how to survive. _You_ , now…”

“We are not helpless.” Artemis huffs, vexed. “I _am_ a huge tiger with sharp claws and fangs, you know.”

Lucie scoffs but rubs herself against his side. “Yeah, sure. You’re a deadly overgrown kitten.”

“Kittens can bite.” Effie points out.

Haymitch rolls his eyes. “Kittens should just look very cute and harmless and let the foxes protect them. Got it?”

She doesn’t look pleased but she relents. “Yes.”

“Good.” Lucie approves, butting her head against Artemis’ to soften the rebuke.

OOO

The Quell’s announcement comes as a shock.

She’s known something was in the work, of course, the Games Headquarters have been buzzing with rumors for week but _this_ … This she hasn’t foreseen.

One minute they’re gushing at Katniss in her wedding dresses… She, Cinna and Portia are toasting each other, the party is raging around them…

The next, President Snow and his snake daemon open a box and her whole word is crumbling around her.

She doesn’t know how she makes it out of that room still smiling, dodging questions and people who want her opinion on the Quell. All she knows is that she ends up leaning against Artemis to remain upright and she barely makes it to the ladies in time before she’s throwing up.

She hears the main door open and close and she tries to convince herself to stand up, to pretend she ate a bad shrimp or even that she’s too full and took one of the purgative cocktails she usually never touches so she can enjoy more food… But it’s only Portia and she doesn’t bother keeping her mask up.

Her friend embraces her as she cries her eyes out.

The tiger and the otter wait outside the door and stand guard until Effie has sobbed her full.

Her daemon sneaks back in while she lets Portia fix her make-up.

“We have to go home and call them.” Artemis begs. Her tiger is restless, pacing between the cubicles and the sinks.

“We have to feed the wolves first.” she answers and Portia flashes her a sad knowing smile. “Be kittens.”

“I am tired of being a kitten.” Artemis growls. “I want to _kill_ _them_ _all_.”

She’s not a violent person but the urge is there.

Because two of her victors are probably going to die and knowing Haymitch likes she does, he will never let Peeta go back if the boy is reaped. And Katniss…

“Here you go.” Portia says softly, clicking her powder compact shut. “You look perfect. Now go dazzle them all, we will need sponsors.”

OOO

For the first time in forever, Lucie doesn’t berate him when he steadily knocks down glass after glass.

She’s curled up on his lap with her tail covering her snout when Peeta barges in and she doesn’t speak once during the boy’s whole speech about how he owes him and has to do what _he_ wants and a distant part of Haymitch wonders if the boy realizes what he’s asking him to do. Peeta wants to go back with Katniss and Haymitch should probably be relieved to be granted the chance of staying out of the new arena.

Except he’s not because there’s no way he’s letting the boy go back.

He doesn’t say much, mostly he lets the boy rant until he’s out of words and slumps on a chair. Peeta buries his face in his hands and Haymitch keeps drinking.

Peeta’s daemon rests his head on top of Lucie’s body, careful not to touch Haymitch, and Haymitch feels the boy’s distress through the contact like a distant echo of his own.

Lucie finally uncurls and jumps off Haymitch’s lap so she can snuggle with the dog like she hardly ever does. It’s Artemis Peeta’s daemon usually seeks comfort from.

At some point, the phone starts ringing off the hook.

He doesn’t want to answer with the boy here but he knows she won’t desist.

“It’s late for a call.” Peeta comments, his voice hoarse. He doesn’t stay long after that.

“Hello, sweetheart.” Haymitch breathes out, his words slurring together a little.

She doesn’t say much.

There isn’t much to say.

She talks about starting to secure sponsors and how he shouldn’t worry because she has everything in hands… She talks and talks and talks to cover the fact her voice is wavering and breaking and he hears Artemis comforting purring…

He imagines her lying in bed, hugging her daemon, the tiger nuzzling her neck like always when she’s upset…

She falls asleep talking or so Artemis informs him, longing and sorrow in his deep voice.

Haymitch hangs up and less than an hour later Katniss finally shows up.

OOO

She sends Peeta tapes of all the Games she can find even the rarest ones. She spends a fortune but it is worth it.

OOO

Training is as much a nightmare as he thought it would be.

The boy’s idea isn’t bad, that’s not it. But running around the District every morning while also drying out because Peeta tossed all his liquor down the drain is more than his body can bear. Withdrawals hit like a brick and without Hazelle sneaking him little quantities of alcohol to keep him afloat he thinks he’d have keeled over long before the Reaping.

It’s almost pathetic how out of shape he is.

He’s still strong. He has a natural built and it’s always been an advantage. And Lucie is quick and is an expert at sneak attacks – in the last few years, she perfected most of them on Artemis. But he cannot hit the side of a house with a knife and he winds down after five minutes of exercise.

He’s very aware that he won’t last five minutes in an arena.

OOO

On Reaping day, Twelve’s overzealous Peacekeepers try to stop her from getting off the train before it’s time for the actual show.

Effie looks Head Peacekeeper Thread up and down with a disdainful expression and Artemis flashes his fangs in something that could have passed for a smile.

“I will see to my victors, thank you very much.” she snaps.

Artemis steps forward, bodily forcing the man and his mastiff daemon to step back.

There is a time to be a kitten and there is a time to be a tiger.

Effie feels very much like a tiger today.

OOO

Haymitch and Lucie are waiting in the living-room.

They know Effie and Artemis will show up because they always do and he doesn’t think for one second Thread has a chance against a determined escort. He wishes she’d be more careful but he knows better than to ask for that and, today of all days, he’s selfishly grateful for her reckless loyalty.

There are no knocks on the front door to announce her arrival. She just steps inside like she lives here and, for a second, he loses himself in the fantasy of it.

Then she’s on the living-room’s threshold, Artemis looming behind her, and they’re in each other’s arms before either of them can say anything. He kisses her hard and fast and he knows she can taste the despair because he feels it where Artemis is frantically licking Lucie’s head.

They lie in bed for a while afterwards.

Artemis is busy grooming Lucie so she’s presentable at the Reaping – or so the tiger claims – and with every lick of his tongue Haymitch feels another warm wave of tenderness and care washing over him.

Effie is curled up against his side, distractedly tracing random patterns on his chest…

“What is the plan?” she asks.

“The boy is reaped, I volunteer.” he answers and there’s no surprise on her part, as if she has already arrived to that conclusion on her own. “If you reap me… I’ll try to stop him but he wants to go back to protect the girl.”

She slowly nods against his chest, her hand drifting to his stomach… Her thumb retraces the long scar she’s the only one he’s ever allowed to touch.

“And after that?” she insist. “What comes after?”

He’s silent for a beat too long and Lucie tenses between Artemis’ paws. “What do you mean?”

“We’re not stupid.” Artemis growls. “We can add two and two. You, Cinna and Portia are not as discreet as you think you are. _You_ most of all should know better than to try and hide things from us.”

He nips at Lucie’s ear in a gentle rebuke.

Haymitch hesitates and then licks his lips. “Stay out of it.” Effie starts to sit up but he tugs her back down. “I’ll tell you what I can when it’s _safe_. For now you stay out of it. That’s how you help me. I don’t want to have to worry about you.”

“ _We_ always worry about you.” Artemis grumbles.

“We do too.” Lucie confesses. “That’s why you need to stay away from this.”

OOO

She chokes when she reads out Haymitch’s name, relief and grief battling in her chest.

OOO

The four daemons form a heap on the carpet when they watch the Reapings recap. Delilah, Peeta’s dog, is curled around Pogo, Lucie’s tail is draped around the falcon from where she’s sprawled behind the dog and Artemis is wrapped around them all.

Haymitch doesn’t like the matching tokens idea. It’s too much of a statement, too dangerous.

He doesn’t think they need it anyway, not with the way their daemons are acting. They’re a team. They don’t need branding to know that.

OOO

Peeta corners her in the corridor as she’s making her way to Haymitch’s room.

“You will save her.” the boy demands. “Promise me.”

It breaks her heart but she nods. “I promise.”

The hug is tight and fierce.

If Artemis could scoop the dog and the boy and lock them somewhere safe until the madness is over, he would.

OOO

“I am sorry about Chaff.” she whispers later that night, once they’re naked and tangled under the sheets.

He doesn’t answer, doesn’t relax until Artemis and Lucie jump on the bed and settle down for the night.

It’s crowded and there’s never enough room but he likes it like that.

It’s the only way he feels safe, lately.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> It's going to get worse before it gets better! What did you think? Let me know!


	10. Bad Omen

Effie does what she can to support Haymitch with his decision to drastically reduce his drinking to a minimum. She’s aware the children are under the impression he stopped altogether but she knows better.

You do not stop being an alcoholic just because you decide to. You cannot _stop_ drinking point blank after decades of abusing your body just because you decide to.

She wishes he would wait until the Quell is over to quit and go to a proper rehab center where they will be equipped to help with the physical consequences.

He cuts down so much, he’s already pushing it.

He has migraines that leave him clenching his jaws for hours, his hands have a telltale shake and even though she banes most of the liquor from the penthouse, he eyes the flutes of champagne at parties like a man in a desert would look at an oasis. He makes do with the smallest sips at irregular times and they are both very much aware it’s not enough.

They never mention it out loud.

OOO

On the first morning of training, Haymitch is woken up by kisses trailing down is stomach and the now very familiar sensation of warmth in his chest that means Artemis and Lucie are cuddling somewhere in the bedroom.

He grips the pillow as Effie blows him off and loses himself in bliss.

It’s so good that he barely manages to scoff an appropriate gibe afterwards when she slips a golden bangle around his wrist that looks more like a manacle than anything else despite the flame patterns.

She also forces a gold ribbon around Lucie’s neck and ties it with a neat bow without so much as brushing her fingers against her fur. It’s a feat because the vixen is squirming and struggling against the giant tiger paw pinning her down to the floor. She huffs and puffs afterward but she doesn’t try to take off the ribbon.

Haymitch doesn’t take off the bangle either.

OOO

She thought the Tour was stressful but it was nothing compared to the Quell.

She barely sleeps, she barely eats…

She chases sponsors with abandon while Haymitch tries to negotiate possible alliances.

Several times, she forgets to knot the golden bowtie around Artemis’ neck before they leave the penthouse.

She never forgot before. Appearances are paramount.

OOO

Haymitch rages until Plutarch and Boggs finally agree to his terms.

Effie Trinket will be evacuated from the city, brought to Thirteen and given immunity or they can have their rebellion without him and their Mockingjay.

OOO

When the children tell her what they did for their session with the Gamemakers, Effie is both upset and angry.

She’s upset because she’s done her best to _not_ think about Seneca and the fact she is partly responsible for his death and she’s angry because they are in enough troubles without them adding to it with reckless displays of rebellion.

She’s sitting at her dressing table, fixing her make-up and about to abandon her reddish eyes as a lost cause, when her bedroom door swings open and Lucie bounces in, closely followed by Haymitch.

“It’s almost time.” he says.

Lucie jumps straight on the bed where Artemis is curled up in a sulk. She licks his snout until he consents to lift his head so she can snuggle between his paws.

Effie immediately feels better, mostly because Haymitch is so desperate to somehow comfort her that it slips from Lucie right through Artemis.

She got used to the feeling of their daemons touching each other – she even got used to her daemon touching Peeta’s and Katniss’ – but the rush of emotions never gets old. She doesn’t know how she spent such a long part of her life without that kind of intimacy.

“I know.” she answers. “We will be here in a moment.”

She checks that her golden wig is straight, adds some hairspray…

“We told them off.” Lucie tells them. “What they did… We get it but it was stupid.”

“They think they are playing a losing game.” Effie comments.

“Aren’t they?” Artemis asks.

Nobody answers that question.

None of them wants to lie.

OOO

It’s Haymitch’s idea to give a day off to the kids before the interviews.

Effie argues against it, Lucie sort of agrees with her but Artemis is on his side.

That’s a first and the four of them look at each other before shaking their heads in a synchronized move.

“We spend too much time together.” Effie complains. “You corrupted my daemon.”

“Like you didn’t corrupt mine.” he scoffs. “She’s wearing _ribbons_ now.”

Effie’s lips stretch into a grin. “I suspect you just like having my mark on you and the ribbon is a consequence of that.”

Lucie leaps on his shoulder and takes the time to regain her balance before wrapping her tail around his neck. “Maybe we should put _our_ mark on you.”

“We would like diamonds.” Artemis jokes. “A pear-shaped ring for her. Not too big but not too small. A matching necklace for me would be appreciated.”

Haymitch doesn’t answer anything.

Neither does Lucie.

OOO

She doesn’t think not using the day off to coach the children is wise but she can understand the impulse to give them some time alone before…

She knows the day off is only a parenthesis away from the Games. A very short one.

But maybe she needs the parenthesis too.

She and Haymitch lounge in bed for most of the day and even though she never entirely manages to forget what’s happening outside their bubble, it feels good to just… relax and _feel_ even if for a little while.

She always used sex as a derivative. Sex with Haymitch is the best of opiates when it comes to making her mind blank.

She doesn’t find it weird when he suggests they take a shower at the end of the afternoon because he told her already that he has to go to a meeting with a potential sponsor – she isn’t fooled because he’s never excluded her from meetings with sponsors before this Quell started – but she _does_ find it weird when he turns on the radio in the bathroom. They never turn on the radio when they share a shower or a bath.

They fool around a little. He makes her giggle and turns the stream up until the bathroom is thick with steam and it’s hard to hear anything over the sound of the music and the clatter of water hitting the tiles. His mouth trails up her throat, up her jaw and to her ear… She can barely hear him when he finally whispers.

“We can’t keep that up for long or they’re gonna get suspicious.” he warns. “Keep the game up.”

She giggles as if he just shared the best joke and turns that into a moan that doesn’t leave him unaffected, no matter that the whole thing is a sham.

They’ve never discussed the bugs before. They mostly act as if they don’t know they exist.

“At some point during the Games, something will happen.” he murmurs in her ear while she fakes louder and louder moans. “People will come for you. They will tell you I sent them. You’re gonna follow them, Princess. You’re gonna follow them and not look back. I ain’t giving you a choice, alright? That’s how it’s gonna go. I’m not leaving you behind.”

So they are leaving then.

That’s the plan.

She doesn’t see where they can go but she trusts him like she’s never trusted anyone else before. If he told her they were going to the moon she would just ask if her wig would fit under those weird helmets astronauts used to wear when space conquest was still a thing.

“ _Do_ you understand?” he asks under his breath.

She bits down on his neck and his groan is not faked, neither is way he lifts her up next.

“Why can’t I just stay with you?” she replies under her breath, straight in his ear.

“Too dangerous.” he answers, shaking his head. “I’m gonna go get our kids first, there ain’t no guarantee. You need to be safe. I _need_ you to be safe.”

_He is going to break the children out of the arena…_

It is so ludicrous, so stupidly impossible that all she can do is nod and trust, trust despite _everything_. 

OOO

Haymitch’s jaw clenches as soon as Katniss’ wedding dress turns into the Mockingjay.

The audience gasps, lets out _ooohs_ and _aaahs_ and claps, but on stage Caesar is visibly sweating.

Nobody has told him that part of the plan. Cinna stands up to receive the tremendous applause and Haymitch suddenly understands that it wasn’t Snow who wanted the girl to wear her wedding dress. This reeks of Plutarch Heavensbee. And the fact that Cinna not only kept silent but also turned her into a symbol on live TV…

That’s what they want, yes, but it’s reckless and he has just turned himself into a martyr…

“What is happening?” Effie whispers in his ear, never departing from her smile.

Portia looks tense next to Cinna and Haymitch wonders if _anyone_ knew what he was planning.

Probably not.

They would have tried to stop him.

“Stay away from Cinna and Portia for a while.” he murmurs.

Lucie doesn’t like it any better than he does. She rests her head on top of Artemis body, ready to bolt.

They _do_ need to bolt once Peeta drops the bomb they discussed.

Effie gasps with everyone else at the announcement of Katniss’ pregnancy.

“It isn’t true.” She grips his forearm, digging her nails into his flesh. “Haymitch…”

“Cameras, sweetheart.” he reminds her.

That calms her down but not for long.

“It’s fine.” Lucie tells Artemis and Effie relaxes.

The audience is bordering on rioting by the time Panem’s anthem booms out and it reaches unseen proportions when the victors lift their joined hands to the sky. Even Haymitch shivers at the sight. It’s powerful and sad and exactly the sort of images the rebellion needs: the District heroes getting sacrificed once more by the Capitol for entertainment.

OOO

All hell breaks loose long before the last note of the anthem has died.

Effie screams as the crowd surges and recedes around her.

The VIP corner has been invaded, she can hear shouting from outside and the Peacekeepers are screaming instructions, threatening people with their _guns_ …

Unseen and unheard of in the city.

Haymitch is herding her toward the side door that a lot of escorts are aiming for but even with his bulk behind her, it’s hard to make a clear path through the shifting mass of people.

Lucie has long hopped on his shoulder but Artemis is too big and people keep bumping into him, hands accidentally trailing on his fur, she herself touches other people’s daemons a few times through no choice of her own…

She’s shuddering and suppressing gags when they finally spill out in the relative safety of a sideway corridor. She immediately drops to her knees and wraps her arms around Artemis’ neck, holding him close, basking in his proximity, trying to forget the feel of strangers’ fingers in his fur… _The wrongness_ of it.

Haymitch slowly crouches next to her, his eyes on the closed door that rattles on its frame. “We’ve got to get back to the penthouse.”

Lucie jumps down from his shoulder and tentatively approaches the tiger, clearly uncertain he wants her close. Artemis bows down to nuzzle her even though he’s still shuddering himself, silently promising she’s never unwelcomed.

Haymitch helps Effie up and onward they go, flinching at the sounds of _rioting_ they haven’t heard since the Victory Tour.

“This is madness…” she whispers.

“No, sweetheart…” he sighs. “It’s war.”

There is a small crowd at the elevators but this one is a reassuring sight. Escorts and victors – the ones playing mentors not the ones playing tributes.

There is a lot of shouting there too and a lot of arguing but the Peacekeepers blocking the elevators stand firm: the building is on lockdown, essential personal only.

Escorts aren’t deemed essential.

Effie argues until she’s blue in the face but she’s not allow back up to the penthouse.

“So what?” Haymitch snarls. “You’re sending them out there alone?”

He waves at one of the windows. If it was madness inside, it’s worse outside. People have taken to the streets to demand the Quell to be stopped.

“All Games staff will be assigned a security squad to see them home.” the Peacekeeper promises.

She hates it.

She hates that she won’t be able to say goodbye to the children.

She hugs Haymitch tight and then she follows the other escorts, Artemis at her side, his head and tail hanging low.

OOO

He hates that he can’t tell the children anything.

He hates that he sends them out with a vague codeword he hopes Katniss will decipher.

OOO

She calls the penthouse as soon as she’s home.

“ _Yeah_.” Haymitch answers after the second ring.

“That is no polite way to answer the phone.” she points out.

“ _Still alive, then_.” he comments and she hears the relieved smirk in his voice.

“Goodnight, Haymitch.” she huffs.

_“Night, Princess.”_ he snorts.

Given the choice and after Artemis being touched by so many strangers, she’d have preferred to sleep with him spooning her, his daemon sprawled on her daemon.

OOO

Effie meets him before the launch the next morning and bitches for half an hour about his missing bangle.

He doesn’t tell her what happened to it and when Finnick flashes it at Katniss in the arena, she purses her lips and finally stops berating him about it.

Lucie is still wearing her golden ribbon anyway.

OOO

She cannot find Portia anywhere.

She does not dare ask anyone where she is.

OOO

If Lucie could live wrapped around Artemis, she would.

It’s painful to keep up the charade in public, not to touch, not to even brush against each other… For the first time since she settled, she wishes she were something more impressive than a small little vixen.

The need to protect Effie and her tiger is overwhelming.

It doesn’t get any better when they watch Mags and her sea turtle walk back into poisonous fog to die.

OOO

If she hadn’t noticed before, it would be obvious now that something is in the work.

Haymitch disappears for hours on end.

She laughs and smiles and makes sure the spotlight is always on her so nobody asks too many questions about her missing victor.

OOO

Haymitch can’t remember the last time he slept more than thirty minutes or ate something that isn’t a sandwich.

Effie doesn’t look much better.

Cinna and Portia are gone.

He’s afraid it’s all going to hell in a hand basket.

The alliance is going as well as expected in the arena. Johanna is behaving better than he thought she would, her goanna is not.

But Katniss is the wild card, he’s always known.

OOO

The Quell is awful to watch and it is terribly unpopular even in the city.

The thing is…

Capitol citizens love their victors.

They do _not_ love watching them fall one after the others.

After Mags dies, sacrificing herself to save Finnick and the children, crowds mass at the foot of Games Headquarters again. They remain there.

It’s the first time Effie ever thinks the Capitol might riot.

OOO

Haymitch stretches himself thin between meeting actual sponsors, making public appearances and secretly preparing the arena breakout.

Cinna should be here to help but Plutarch confirms Cinna is dead.

He asks after Portia but the Head Gamemaker’s only answer is a negative shake of his head. The stylist is still alive but they cannot save her.

It only makes Haymitch more anxious.

“We will get your escort out.” Plutarch’s spider daemon promises in a soothing tone. “All will be well.”

Later, as they’re making their way back to the penthouse, Lucie wraps her tail around his neck, digging her claws in his shoulder. “I don’t trust her.”

It might have to do with the fact she’s a huge hairy black spider and they’ve never been fond of those but Plutarch’s daemon is the last of his concerns.

“I don’t trust any of them.” he answers.

He will only trust them as far as he can throw them and only as much as they can help him get his kids back in one piece.

They’re playing a dangerous game.

He only hopes it will be a winning gambit.

OOO

She doesn’t ask why Haymitch is so insistent they go to her apartment when they could be courting sponsors or why he’s so certain nothing will happen before midnight.

Last time she checked, the children and their allies were all resting on the beach.

She still feels guilty when Haymitch undresses her. She feels even more guilty when she answers his caresses with some of her own.

The sex is slow and tender like it rarely ever is. It feels so much like a goodbye that she wants to cry. A tear slips through and he kisses it off her cheek, letting his mouth trail down her throat to the hollow plane between her breasts… He drops a kiss over her heart and she closes her eyes, her skin tickles where his stubble scratches.

They remain entangled for a long time afterwards.

They do not say a word.

Their daemons don’t say anything either, they lay curled up at the bottom of Effie’s gigantic bed, soaking each other’s warmth up…

Haymitch is running is fingers through her hair, playing with her curls… She’s tracing patterns on his chest, spelling words he probably wouldn’t appreciate her saying out loud… If he’s figured out what she’s writing over and over again, he doesn’t let on.

Suddenly, an alarm rings twice in the pocket of the pants that have landed somewhere close to the door’s threshold and he lets out a long deep sigh.

“Gotta go.” he mumbles, turning his head so his face is buried in her hair. “Gonna meet a sponsor.”

“Alright.” she says flatly.

It takes him too long to let go of her, too long to drag himself up, too long to leave her bed and put his clothes back on…

That’s how she knows.

At the reluctance in his every move.

“Maybe you should stay here tonight.” he offers casually. “Meeting might finish late… No point for you to sleep at the penthouse…”

“Alright.” she repeats. She doesn’t manage to make it sound cheerful – or anything _at all_ really. All she can do is watch him button up his waistcoat, knowing that when he reaches the last one he will leave and… She has a bad feeling. She just… She has a _bad feeling_. 

“Good.” He meets her eyes, holds them. “You stay here and relax, then.” _Until someone comes for you_. He doesn’t say it but she hears it anyway. She remembers. He swallows, averts his eyes, watches Lucie reluctantly leave the shelter of Artemis’ paws to leap off the bed… “I’ll see you tomorrow, Princess.”

He’s almost at the door when she sits up herself, uncaring of her nudity. “Haymitch!”

There are words she wants to say but they remain stuck in her throat. She’s got burned once and…

Artemis leaps from the bed before she can do anything to stop him. Haymitch watches the tiger approach with weariness carved on his face but he doesn’t do anything to avoid it when her daemon slowly but purposefully nudges his hand with his snout.

The air leaves her lung in one sharp breath.

It feels…

It _feels_ …

Ever so slowly Haymitch moves his hand to the top of Artemis’ head, slides it to the tiger’s neck, fingers burying in the thick white fur…

Effie cannot breathe anymore. Her whole body is struggling with what she can only compare to _electric_ _shocks_. It’s like being struck by lightning if lightning were lust and love and the thousand nuances in between.

She’s pretty sure she comes.

“Tomorrow.” Artemis says, managing to sound firm when Effie knows he is dazed.

Haymitch looks quite stunned too. His eyes have gone dark with desire and he’s watching Effie as if he’s seriously considering jumping back into bed and _hell_ to the consequences…

“Tomorrow, kitty.” he manages to croak out and then coughs. His hand doesn’t leave Artemis’ neck and when the tiger presses closer, inviting more petting, he stares at her daemon in awe.

She wonders if he can feel it through the contact… How much she…

For how distracted she is by what is happening to her body, she doesn’t fail to notice Lucie jumping back on the bed or making her careful way to her. She can only watch as the vixen comes closer and closer, looking more and more determined as she leaves the safety of the sheets behind to climb on her stomach and higher…

Her paws are cold and it feels entirely different than when Artemis touches her… It feels like Haymitch and not Haymitch at the same time… It feels…

Haymitch sucks in a breath. When Lucie lies down on her chest to burrow her head against her neck, he reaches out to steady himself against the wall. His free hand clenches in Artemis’ fur and Effie almost arches her back. Enfolding his daemon in an embrace is a reflex. One that almost kills them both.

They’re both panting and sweaty and none of it is painful at all like she would expect it to be. It’s all so…

“We love you.” Lucie whispers and Haymitch chokes.

Effie closes her eyes and wills herself not to cry. It’s Artemis who answers, Artemis who nudges Haymitch’s leg, Artemis who finally says out what she lacks the courage to express…

“We love you.”

She wonders what it means about them that their daemons always have to make the difficult confessions for them.

Letting go of the vixen is the hardest thing she’s ever done.

“Tomorrow.” Haymitch repeats and there’s something feverish to his voice now, something fierce and frantic. “It’s a date, sweetheart.”

He lets go of Artemis slowly, so impossibly slowly…

“You do not date.” she reminds him, feeling faint. When Artemis walks back to the bed, she wraps her arms around him.

“You’re the exception to a lot of our rules.” his daemon says.

Haymitch rolls his eyes, scoop her from the floor and helps her settle on his shoulder. “What’s next? You’re gonna recite _fucking_ poetry?”

“We do not mind poetry.” Artemis retorts, stretching languidly next to Effie. She buries her face in his fur because her heart isn’t in the bantering, her heart is leaving with Haymitch and there is nothing she can do about it.

“Yeah, well… Who knows…” Haymitch snorts. “If I can find something that rhymes with _fuck,_ you might get lucky.”

“Erotic poetry…” Artemis manages to keep up the banter. “Lucky you, Effie.”

“Stay safe.” she begs, her voice muffled by Artemis’ white fur.

“Stay alive.” he answers, his usual departing advise to tributes.

And then he’s gone.

Effie doesn’t even try not to cry.

When she finally gets up, she finds the golden ribbon that must have accidentally slipped off Lucie’s neck.

It feels like a bad omen.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Soooo they touched. And confessed. Sort of. And now the real war begins... What did you think?


	11. Jinxed

Katniss shoots the arrow too soon and the whole plan unravels into chaos.

OOO

She’s finishing to apply her make-up when she hears a loud noise that makes her grab one of her trophies and run to the living-room in fright, Artemis already ahead of her, growling and fangs out.

The door to her apartment has been broken down.

There are five Peacekeepers standing on the debris, stomping on her lovely white cherry wood with their dirty boots.

She doubts Haymitch would have sent her Peacekeepers.

She looks at Artemis and Artemis looks back.

They’re in trouble.

OOO

“Go back for them!” Haymitch rages but Plutarch refuses to give the order to turn the hovercraft around.

Katniss is on board and that’s all that matters to him.

The fact that they just abandoned Peeta, Johanna and Chaff behind – not to mention whoever of the Careers is still alive – isn’t important.

If Finnick wasn’t half slumped on him to keep himself upright, Haymitch would deck the Head Gamemaker.

As it is, Lucie comes very close to biting off one of his daemon’s many legs.

OOO

They tell her to drop the trophy and she does because there is no way she can out-power five trained Peacekeepers, even with a tiger at her side. Not when most of them have huge dog daemons.

OOO

“Chaff Mitchell is confirmed dead.” Plutarch winces. “As is Brutus Gunn. It happened minutes before the arena blew up. I’m sorry, Haymitch.”

_Chaff and Lim…_

Haymitch closes his eyes, swallows the grief and buries one of his hands in Lucie’s fur. His vixen climbs up on his shoulder and wraps her tail around his neck, pressing her snout against the side of his throat.

OOO

She follows the Peacekeepers with a clueless mask on her face and babbles about new security measures and how nice of them it is to fetch the escorts from around the city.

The Capitol is in total lockdown. She’s never seen anything like it.

Half of the city is suffering from a blackout.

It takes her fifteen minutes of piecing various bits of conversations up to figure out it’s because Katniss did something in the arena.

OOO

Haymitch keeps his hand on Finnick’s shoulder as the hovercraft flies toward Thirteen and news trickle in so very slowly.

“Communications are down in Seven, Ten, and Twelve.” Plutarch announces, his eyes glued to his tablet. “But Eleven has control of transportation now, so there’s at least a hope of them getting some food out.”

On his shoulder, Lucie flexes his claws at the news from Twelve.

They knew there would be repercussions, he reminds himself. If all goes well, the kids family will be retrieved and…

“Drop us in Four.” Finnick’s daemon demands suddenly. The seagull is hopping around the table, frantic and upset.

Plutarch is nice when he refuses and, for the first time since they boarded the hovercraft, Haymitch agrees with the man.

“I’ll give myself up.” Finnick argues. “Annie…”

“Don’t be stupid. That’s the worst thing you could do.” he snaps. “Get her killed for sure. As long as _you_ ’re alive, they’ll keep _her_ alive for bait.”

It’s the reason why he was so insistent Effie should be evacuated with the second hovercraft leaving the city, wasn’t it? Because he doesn’t want her used against him.

He’s sorry it’s going to play out like that for the kid.

But he’s _so_ relieved Effie is safe from the Capitol’s grasp.

OOO

They leave her to stew in an interrogation room for what feels like hours.

She’s fairly certain they are somewhere underneath the Training Center. The room is metallic and bare save for a table and a chair she’s handcuffed to.

_Handcuffed_.

Artemis rests his head on her lap.

Neither of them say anything.

Anything they will say will come back to haunt them.

All they can do now is play the game and hope they are good enough to win.

OOO

Katniss comes barging in and Haymitch has time to explain _almost_ everything before she’s on him, trying to claw his face off.

He hears Lucie shout in pain as the girl’s falcon attacks her. Pogo’s talons actually do damages to his daemon.

He thinks it’s Finnick who manages to dose her with a sedative, he’s not sure. It’s certainly his seagull who knocks Pogo off Lucie.

OOO

“Where is Haymitch Abernathy?”

The Peacekeeper sitting in front of her isn’t wearing a helmet. He has cruel black eyes, a nose that has been broken too many times and a heap of brown hair that doesn’t do anything for his tanned complexion.

His daemon is a rat.

“I told you twenty times already.” she replies, irritated. “He went to see a sponsor. Where is my lawyer? I have _rights,_ you know?”

OOO

“We are almost there.” Fulvia announces, marching in the hovercraft briefing room on heels that Haymitch knows Effie would sneer at. “But…” Plutarch’s assistant tosses Haymitch and Finnick a fretful look before handing the Head Gamemaker another tablet. “It just came in. It is confirmed.”

Four’s victor immediately sit up straighter. “Is it Annie?”

“Twelve.” Plutarch answers after a couple of seconds.

Haymitch feels something heavy drop in his stomach. His heart starts beating hard and it’s a reflex to reach for the vixen that is nestled against the crook of his neck. Lucie has a vicious gash zigzagging across her snout and she hates being hurt even more than she hates having been bested by a bird.

“What’s wrong?” he asks.

The Head Gamemaker hesitates for a second and then hands him the tablet instead of answering.

It’s all there. Blurry footage of bombs dropping down, chemical fire devouring everything…

“The retrieval teams had to abort.” Plutarch explains. “But they say they saw refugees take to the woods so they will bring them to Thirteen. Hopefully the children’s families are in there.”

OOO

The first slap is the worst.

It’s the worst because the moment the Peacekeeper backhands her, Artemis tries to jump at his throat and the man grabs him by the throat.

Artemis is a tiger but that does not make him a fighter and he’s impeded by the cuff someone closed around his front leg. He’s bound to the table and the table is bolted down to the ground.

Effie cannot breathe.

The Peacekeeper is wearing gloves and not actually _touching_ but the contact still makes her skin crawl… It’s certainly enough to paralyze Artemis with horror…

“That’s what you get when you lie with dogs, Miss Trinket…” the man mocks. “Or is it _foxes_? As of now you are a traitor to the Capitol, your citizenship has been revoked, your only right is to ask how high when I tell you to jump. If I were you, I’d start talking. It ain’t gonna be pleasant.” The sly smile makes her want to be sick. He tightens his hold on Artemis’ trachea. “Let me ask you again… Where’s Haymitch Abernathy? You better tell me ‘cause let me tell you he’s done with your pretty piece of ass. Ran away like a rat when he saw the ship was sinking. He’s probably dead now. We blew several rebel hovercrafts right out of the sky.”

“You’re the rat.” Artemis growls and sweeps his free paw.

The rat daemon on the man’s shoulder flies in the air with a cry of anguish and hits the wall _hard_. Not hard enough to burst in a pile of dust, regrettably.

The Peacekeeper staggers away, finally letting go of Artemis…

He hurries to his daemon, picks her up, inspects her…

“Oh, you _bitch_ …” he spits in their direction. “You’re gonna pay for that and it’s gonna be _fun_.”

OOO

His world has become a whirlwind.

They reach Thirteen, he’s unimpressed with Coin and her hyena daemon, the first hovercrafts with Twelve’s refugees start trickling in…

OOO

They make her strip and slip on a white prison uniform.

She does so disdainfully, uncaring of their conspicuous eyes on her. Being naked in front of people is nothing new. They won’t humiliate her like that.

It’s harder when they rip her fake nails one by one, always asking the same questions she cannot answer. She’s crying and shuddering by the time they’re out of nails and Artemis has stopped raging out and trying to fight. He’s curled up at her feet, dazed and hurt.

They tear her wig off her head.

They ask the questions again.

OOO

The moment she spots him, Prim tosses herself in his arms and Haymitch starts breathing for the first time since the hovercraft took flight for the arena.

He takes one look at her daemon and knows he has settled as a goat – or a buck, he figures. She’s so young, it breaks his heart a little.

OOO

It feels like _weeks_ have passed when they bodily drag her down several corridors, forcing Artemis to keep up with guns pointed at her head, but she knows it has most likely been hours.

She’s hurting like she never hurt before and she thinks the shock of that pain is more terrible than the pain itself.

They toss her in a cell without windows and, at first, she can barely make out the other bodies in the darkness.

Then she spots Portia and she crawls to her friend with a small cry. She’s alive. She _must_ be because her otter is curled up on her chest.

Artemis nuzzles him even though they’ve never touched before and the stylist’s daemon immediately climb up on the tiger’s head, _crying_.

Portia cannot cry nor talk. Her face is swollen and her jaw is clearly broken.

Effie holds her carefully.

“Cinna and Gigi are dead.” the daemon whispers. “We are all going to die.”

OOO

There’s a lull of calm in the chaos and Haymitch finally sits down in the compartment he’s been assigned, nursing a glass of water and pretending it’s whiskey.

“They’re gonna want to give us a roommate.” Lucie grumbles as she skims through the rulebook open on the table.

He shrugs. “We’ve already got one.” He tosses a dubious look at the sleeping area. “You and the kitty are gonna have to take the second bunk bed. No way we all fit on one of those.”

OOO

They drag her out of her cell and to what can only be described as a torture chamber.

Artemis is restrained with iron chains and kept so far apart from her it’s already torture.

They ask questions. Specific questions about a rebellion happening on the other side of the country, about Haymitch’s involvement in it, about the children and Katniss in particular…

“I do not know _anything_.” she repeats again and again.

It’s a shock when the leather straps lick the skin of her back for the first time.

OOO

“Haymitch.” Plutarch calls from the other end of the corridor.

Haymitch slows down but doesn’t stop, he wants to check on Finnick and Katniss before someone drags him to Command to debrief what is going on in Panem.

“Haymitch, there is a problem.” the Head Gamemaker says, slightly out of breath for having been made to quicken his steps.

“When isn’t there?” Lucie snorts, trotting slightly ahead of them, eager to check on the girl and her daemon even if she owes them a scratch or two.

“The second hovercraft just arrived from the city.” Plutarch insists. “Effie Trinket wasn’t on board.”

Haymitch stops dead in his tracks.

It feels as if the whole world is closing in around him and he barely realizes Lucie is asking the questions he’s too stunned to utter.

“Where’s she?” his daemon demands. “You told us…”

“The Peacekeepers got to her first.” Plutarch winces. “Retrieval was impossible without direct confrontation and my agents aren’t soldiers. She’s… I couldn’t find her yet but we will, I promise.” He reaches for Haymitch’s shoulder, _squeezes_. “She’s a Capitol citizen, she will be safe. It’s probable they just wanted all staff members back at the Center. The Headquarters are on lockdown…”

“ _Probable_ doesn’t work for me.” he growls, shrugging his hand off. “ _Find her_.”

He storms away, opens the first door that leads on an empty room and slides to the floor, his heart threatening to _burst_.

“What did we do?” he frantically asks Lucie. “ _What did we do_?”

“It’s my fault.” his daemon whimpers. “I told them… I jinxed us. I shouldn’t have…”

She shouldn’t have said the _L_ word.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I think Effie and Artemis are in trouuuuuuuble... Let me know your thoughts! Don't forget there's a chapter tomorrow!


	12. Mercy

“Haymitch and Lucie love us and they will come for us.”

Sometimes it’s Effie reminding Artemis.

Sometimes it’s Artemis reminding Effie.

It doesn’t diminish the pain but it helps them bear the insults.

OOO

They don’t find Effie.

Katniss remains in a sedative induced sulk.

Finnick snapped.

Beetee’s legs don’t work properly anymore.

Twelve is heralded as the example to all Districts that refuse to surrender to the might of the Capitol.

OOO

One day they drag them back to a different cell.

She never sees Portia again.

She sees Johanna and her goanna.

She sees Peeta and his golden retriever.

On rarer occasions, she sees Annie and her albatross.

OOO

He loses patience one time too many and he smashes some screens in Command.

They toss him in a cell until he’s ridden out the worst of the withdrawals.

OOO

“This is hell.” Artemis whispers to her on the cold damp ground of her cell. “We are in hell.”

And they deserve it, he thinks. They deserve it because they helped kill children, so many children… They deserve it because…

Effie drags herself closer to his body, wraps herself around him… The tears are less terrible to bear than the smears of blood she leaves on his white fur…

OOO

“This is hell.” Haymitch mutters to Lucie as more horrifying nightmares come to life. Hallucination are the worst. Worse than the shaking, worse than being sick all over himself, worse than losing grip with reality. “We’re in hell.”

He watches as Effie’s ghost joins the army of dead children lead by none other than his dead mother. He watches and he hopes the hallucination keeps despite how terrified it makes him feel because if he can stare at her, even a furious imaginary her, then…

Lucie snuggles against his neck and bumps her snout against his cheek. She’s all dirty because he’s dirty. She reeks because he reeks. She’s trapped here because of him. He feels so guilty, so ashamed by what his body has become…

And yet he would still down an entire bottle if they gave him one…

OOO

There is only so many times she can answer that she doesn’t know.

OOO

Katniss agrees to become the Mockingjay and they fish Haymitch out of his filthy cell to play mentor once more.

He has migraines, tremors and hot flashes but he’s sober and that’s all that matters for now.

Lucie remains glued around his neck like an expensive living scarf.

OOO

They stop asking her questions.

They use her to get the others to answer.

Johanna does not care one way or the other.

Peeta shouts and rages and screams when they beat her to get him to talk.

Delilah tries to rush to her defense once but one of the Peacekeepers’ dog daemon rolls her down and viciously bites her stump. The cries of pain of Peeta’s daemon are unbearable and Effie screams herself raw. Artemis almost manages to free himself from the chains they keep him in that time.

Effie thinks her tiger would have killed all the daemons without a second thought.

And _good riddance_.

Kill them all, burn everything to the ground…

OOO

He should never have expected Katniss to _listen_ – or, at least, not to _obey._

The moment she and Hawthorne go rogue with their daemons flying in a sky full of dropping bombs, Lucie starts ranting under her breath about how she’s going to pluck every feather off the falcon and plant a tracking chip under his wing.

Haymitch is contemplating implanting a communicator chip directly in Katniss’ ear.

OOO

They call her _Abernathy’s bitch_.

They kick Artemis while he’s tied down and touch him with their gloves on just because they know it makes her feel like throwing up. They taunt her about her love for District dogs.

Johanna theorizes they don’t have any use for them anymore aside for leverage.

Mostly, when they take the two of them out of their cell, it’s to play at hurting them. Because there is a war raging outside and they need the distraction. That’s what they have become now: breathing punching-bags.

They see Peeta less and less and when they do see him his behavior is weird.

His daemon gives Artemis such a vicious look one day that the tiger immediately flops down as if to beg forgiveness.

Effie doesn’t know what they have done wrong.

OOO

Peeta’s warning comes just in time.

Haymitch sits in a bunker listening to bombs raining down and wonders who will still be alive at the end of the night.

He’s worrying sick about the kids, both of them. _All_ of them.

He’s worrying sick about…

“When we find them again, we’re never letting them go.” Lucie warns him, a growl in her voice.

He doesn’t think he will be able to even if he wants to.

Effie’s absence is like a missing limb, like the painful pull he feels every time Lucie stretches the range between them – and their range nowadays is severely short.

When he lets himself remember how it felt to touch Artemis, to have her hugging Lucie…

“They’re the love of our life.” Lucie insists because she likes to say out loud what he prefers to keep quiet.

He clutches the bangle Finnick has given back and licks his lips. “We get them back, we never let them go.” He shakes his head. “When this _shit_ is over, we grab them, we grab the kids and we start over somewhere nice.”

“Four.” Lucie decides. “Next to the ocean. Effie’s gonna like that.”

“Four.” he agrees. “Good idea.”

Not too far from Finnick and Annie if she makes it. Jo will probably stick around too. Katniss and Peeta liked that District during the Tour… They can all be together and be safe and happy.

He knows it’s a fantasy they’re telling themselves to comfort each other but he allows himself to believe.

With bombs threatening to blow them to smithereens, he has nothing to lose.

OOO

She hears the alarms, hears the screams and the gunshots…

She buries her face in Artemis’ side and smiles.

Her victors are free.

OOO

“You didn’t find her?” Haymitch insists, ignoring Boggs’ telltale signs of irritation. The cheetah walking at the man’s side looks ready to _eat_ both Lucie and him.

“I told you if we found her in their cells we’d bring her back even if she’s not on the list.” the soldier grumbles. “She wasn’t with them.”

OOO

It hurts that they’ve been left behind.

It hurts but she cares more that her victors are safe, that _Peeta_ is safe.

“We can die now.” she whispers to Artemis. There is no one left to protect.

“Not quite yet.” her tiger protests, carefully resting his head on her stomach. “We are not done yet. I want to see Lucie and Haymitch again.”

It would be nice, she muses.

It would be nice to see them again…

OOO

Peeta tries to murder Katniss and there’s little time to ponder where Effie might be if not there. Plutarch’s agents can’t locate her.

When Portia and the boy’s prep team are executed on live TV, Lucie curls up in a ball at his feet and refuses to _look_. She’s afraid of who will be brought up next.

But they don’t drag Effie in front of the cameras and he doesn’t have to watch her tiger blow up in a cloud of golden dust.

In a way, it’s almost worse.

At least then, he’d know.

OOO

Effie and Artemis are dragged several floors down, in a weird place that reeks of hospital and yet still looks like a prison. Her new cell is padded and it scares her more than the hard metal ground of her last one.

There are screams all day long and it drives them crazy with fear because there is something deeply unsettling to the shouts. People in white blouses come in and out of her cell, treating the festered wounds on her body, checking her vitals, making sure _Artemis_ is alright…

She knows they are proper doctors because they have the equipment to look after daemons without touching them or making them uncomfortable. They have the special gloves and the right instruments.

They give her food too. Not stale bread but actual greens and mashed potatoes… She makes herself sick the first time. Her stomach can’t handle it, it’s too rich, too _good_.

They take care of her until she’s not in pain anymore, until her wounds are properly closed and scarred. They ask questions doctors would ask in a hospital. They take notes.

They want Effie and Artemis to believe they’re nice.

They _never_ make the mistake to believe. 

The screams…

The screams are _wrong_.

The screams make her want to clutch Artemis to her chest and never let go.

OOO

“Trackerjacker venom…” Haymitch mutters on their bed, late at night. “They dosed his daemon with trackerjacker venom…”

It won’t be long before he’s summoned back to Command and he should take whatever little time to sleep he can get but he can’t shut his brain off, not after he’s read the doctors’ reports.

Touching another person’s daemon, _messing_ with them…

“What if they do the same to Artemis?” Lucie whispers.

Peeta’s golden retriever almost snapped the falcon’s neck before Lucie got in between them, she has the bite marks to prove the dog meant business and without Boggs’ cheetah daemon…

If Artemis ever tries to rip Lucie’s throat out, the vixen won’t stand a chance.

And the idea that Effie might believe him to be a mutt, might have forgotten everything that they shared…

Worse, he knows that if she kills him, she will hate herself when she finally becomes sane again…

“Then we’ll fix them.” he decides. “We won’t give up on them. Ever.”

Lucie sighs and curls on his pillow, her tail trailing over his throat. “I miss them. I miss them so much it _fucking_ hurts. It hurts like when you go away from me.”

“I know.” he whispers. He rubs his face, refuses to admit his eyes aren’t quite dry. “I know…”

OOO

It starts with experiments.

They drag Artemis away from her, further than they’re both comfortable with. The pain makes her yell and sob and beg. There’s nothing she wouldn’t do to make them stop when they play at dragging her daemon away from her. _Nothing_. But they’re not interested in her money, her body or anything she can think to offer.

They take notes. _References_.

They do that for a few days.

Then they force them under the machine.

She doesn’t know what it is, she doesn’t have any name for it.

All she knows is that there are a lot of flashing lights and every day, after they’re submitted to the lights, she is dragged further away from her daemon.

It doesn’t matter how much they squirm and scream and try to get back to each other, every day the doctors and the Peacekeepers take them further and further apart.

Every day there is a new horror.

They’re dragged in different rooms, locked in different cells for hours at a time…

She joins the chorus of screaming people.

It hurts.

It hurts to be apart.

It hurts to be out of sight.

It hurts so much she’s unable to say what they are even doing to him.

The connection between them is stretched so thin she knows it is just going to _break_.

There are other people in the cells they toss her in. She’s too busy screaming to really pay attention but she sees them.

They’re little more than shells. They are hugging themselves and staring into nothing.

The daemons are the worst. Sometimes they trap her with one and it will crawl to her, close enough to feel her warmth, not close enough to touch, as if it’s desperate for some sort of _connection_ … It kills her to imagine Artemis ending up like this.

The people and the daemons… They’re _empty… Hollow_ … Lost. 

But _they_ won’t end up like them.

All of them stopped fighting.

Effie will _never_ stop fighting.

Artemis will survive this if it’s the last thing she does.

OOO

He doesn’t like the idea of sending Katniss to Two with Gale for only company but he doesn’t want to leave Thirteen, not with Peeta in the state he’s in.

He makes her _promise_ to keep her earpiece on this time.

Two is closer to the front line than he’d like but, for now, with the Nut on lockdown, it’s also a lot of waiting around. It’s safer than having her around Peeta.

OOO

Effie wraps herself around Artemis while the doctors calibrate the machine but it doesn’t matter.

The relief of being _finally_ reunited doesn’t come. It hasn’t been coming for days. If she could climb inside his skin or somehow absorb him she would but save from that nothing else will do. Not touch, not cuddling, not even wrapping herself around him… 

“We are going to break apart.” she whispers in his fur.

He shudders. “Never. _Never.”_

“We will.” she hisses. “I _feel_ it. Another round in this machine and we…” She can’t say it. She can’t say it but she knows it deep down. She barely feels Artemis anymore even when she’s holding tight like right now. The pain is constant, unbearable, but somehow _dull_ and it’s worse in a way because when it was sharp... There is an emptiness where she used to feel Artemis in her chest. “When they take us out of the machine, when the connection is severed… When you are no longer attached to me…”

“Stop, Effie.” he begs. “ _Stop_.”

He knows already what she wants, she supposes. Even without the connection, they are still the same person at heart.

“Make a run for it.” she insists in his ear. “Run.”

“I am _not_ leaving you.” he roars, low enough that it won’t carry to the doctors who aren’t paying them any attention.

“There won’t be much left of me.” she retorts. “I have seen the daemons after, _they_ are still there. They just need… You will run and you will find Haymitch and he will take care of you for me. And then… Then you and him and Lucie can come rescue me and fix this mess.”

“No.” Artemis stubbornly argues, bumping his head against hers.

“Artemis.” she snaps. “You run, you find Haymitch. If I have to end up brain dead today, I want the best part of me to still be with him. _Please_.”

“No.” he repeats. “We do not even know where he is for sure.”

“Please.” she begs when the doctor approach. “Please! Please!”

She keeps shouting that word. She keeps shouting that word when they drag her under the lights. She keeps shouting that word even when the pain threatens to make her pass out. She keeps shouting that word until she _can’t_.

They think she’s pleading for mercy.

Artemis closes his eyes in defeat.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> *Drumroll* How much do you hate me? Don't imagine her screamin PLEAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAASE until her voice goes off. Don't. What will Artemis do? Will he be in any state to flee? Who will give Haymitch and Lucie a hug? Who will give ME a hug? Let me know your thoughts!


	13. Fade To Black

Haymitch watches Peeta bake from an observation gallery, out of sight.

Seeing him upsets the boy.

There’s a discrepancy between Peeta and his daemon that nobody can really explain and watching them right now, it’s obvious. It’s like they’re out of synch. The dog is apathetic, perpetually confused even when Peeta has some sort of breakthrough… Delilah is the shadow of who she used to be, more rabid than sentient, more animal than daemon. Peeta, too, is a shadow.

Sometimes, although Haymitch will never say so aloud, the kid and the dog remind him of how he and Lucie used to be back before Effie and her tiger strutted into their life to stay.

“He’s making progress.” Lucie comforts him from his shoulder.

“Is he?” he sighs.

It doesn’t look like progress.

It looks like a ticking time bomb.

OOO

Artemis feels the snap.

It echoes in his ears like a thunderclap he’s the only one to hear.

Effie collapses, eyes open but unseeing, lips slightly parted, body convulsing…

The doctors rush to her.

Artemis wants to collapse too. He wants to curl up on himself and crawl to the nearest living source of warmth, friend or foe, because he’s so _empty_ , so lonely…

What he does is rush at the lone Peacekeeper who guards the exit.

He’s half mad with grief and wrath by the time he reaches him.

He bites the daemon’s head right off and the man falls down dead.

He doesn’t stop to contemplate the taste of golden dust in his mouth.

He does what he told Effie he would not.

He runs.

He _flees_ the empty shell she has become.

OOO

He talks to Katniss every day but nothing much is happening in Two. They’re waiting, forever waiting.

They both avoid talking about Peeta.

OOO

Artemis is too angry, too confused and too hurt. With every breath, it feels like someone is squeezing his heart. He wants to lie down and cry. He wants to crawl somewhere warm and _die_.

But he won’t.

He’s been listening to victors discussing tactics in the arena for long enough that he knows the rules of surviving in a hostile environment. Haymitch’s first advice is always the same: escape the bloodbath. His last one is always the same too: stay alive.

From the other victors, he picked up this: never do what they expect you to do.

He has the vague idea the Peacekeepers and doctors will expect him to try and go up, to escape the way they have come in, or even to find Effie back. And it’s tempting. It’s tempting to go looking for her, to try to fix whatever it is they broke… But that requires more coherent thinking than Artemis can afford. All he can think about is to _not_ do what they expect.

So instead of going after Effie or trying to find his way up, Artemis sneaks his way _down_. 

He can be stealthy. He can stop himself from going on the violent rampage he’s so desperate to unleash although it’s _hard_ to think of anything else that isn’t finding a way to make himself complete again.

It’s almost easy to avoid the Peacekeeper squads because they’re all barring the elevators and the corridors full of cells. It’s less easy to avoid the doctors but he knows what he will do to anyone who tries to stop him.

Kitty no more. He will be a tiger now. And tiger rips their enemies _to shreds_.

Eventually he stumbles upon a narrow staircase and down he goes.

He has the vague thought he’s running into hell but surely hell cannot be worse than this atrocious pain in his chest, the _void_ she left… 

He finds the sewers – he finds lizard mutts and several Avoxes too; he kills the mutts and leave the Avoxes alone even if it’s hard to stop himself from crawling to the closest one and beg him to spare some of his warmth. He follows the tunnel full of filth a little at random until he emerges next to the big water tank at the periphery of the city.

He’s not white anymore. He’s brown and dirty and disgusting.

He doesn’t care.

It doesn’t even occur to him to wash in the clear water.

There’s only one thing on his mind: he needs to feel whole again.

He starts running.

OOO

Haymitch sits at a table in the corner of the dining hall, like he always tends to do, and he watches from afar as Finnick coaxes Annie into eating her ration, their daemons cuddling together on the table.

He’s never been that jealous of anyone before.

“It hurts.” Lucie complains.

“I know.” he whispers and stabs a turnip.

OOO

Artemis is a daemon.

Technically, he doesn’t need to sleep or eat or drink.

Technically, he’s not supposed to be further than six feet of his human either.

For the first time, he feels real exhaustion. Like everything else, it tastes like ashes and emptiness.

He needs Effie.

_He needs Effie._

He almost doubles back a thousand times.

OOO

Beetee waves him away from the crowd perpetually living in Command one day. “Something happened in the Center, I thought you’d want to know. There’s been a lot of chatter.”

Haymitch cannot stop the hope from rising. “What is it?”

Three’s victor shakes his head. “I don’t have anything specific yet but I think something escaped.”

And just like that his hope is dashed. Beetee is not talking about his escort, of course not, he’s talking about the war and whatever the Capitol is cooking under the Games Headquarters.

“New mutts?” Lucie asks, her voice flat.

“It’s possible.” Beetee shrugs.

“Warn Coin.” he orders.

OOO

He jumps on trains or follow convoys of cars when he deems it safe to do so but mostly Artemis runs.

He avoids battlefields when he can, rushes straight through fire and dying soldiers when he cannot.

He doesn’t really have any concept of personal safety anymore.

Nothing matters.

Nothing that isn’t the lack of Effie in his chest.

OOO

“We might actually win this war, you know.” Haymitch says.

Lucie stares at him from where she’s sprawled on their bed and doesn’t say anything.

Winning the war would be good, keeping their family alive would be better.

OOO

He doesn’t know how long it took him but suddenly he reaches familiar landmarks.

Twelve is in ruins.

No, it’s worse than ruins. Charred bones give under his paws when he wandered between the black gutted carcasses of houses and shops.

The Capitol erased Twelve from Panem like they erased Effie from his heart. 

The Village still stands and he’s tempted, so very much tempted, to just stay in Haymitch’s house, to curl up on the bed that smells like him and Lucie and just drift off until they finally find him and reunite him with Effie…

He knows that if he stops he will never move again.

Not without her.

So he keeps running north, hoping all those questions about Thirteen that they couldn’t answer weren’t just an excuse to torture them.

He’s dimly aware that his paws are bleeding, that the hissing sound he makes when he breathes isn’t good, that his mind isn’t working like it should…

No predator tries to attack him.

Probably because he looks deranged.

His laughter echoes through deadly silent woods.

OOO

Hawthorne’s idea with the Nut is a good one but Haymitch hates what it does to Katniss.

He waits with her, talks her through it, finally tells her about Peeta…

Then, of course, she goes and gets herself shot…

OOO

Thirteen is an old ruin but some of the destruction looks fresh.

It doesn’t take him long to stumble on a patrol of soldiers dressed in black and grey, flanked by various daemons.

Guns whirled in his direction and he finally stops running.

Standing still after being in movement so long is weird and he sways a little.

“Who are you?” one of the soldiers asks. “Identify yourself. Where’s your human?”

_His_ _human_ …

Artemis finally lets himself collapse.

OOO

It takes far too long for him to get a report on Katniss’ condition.

Injured but not too seriously.

Safe for now.

“That’s the best we can ask for.” he reminds Lucie because she’s frantic.

OOO

One of the humans – the leader, Artemis supposes – carefully approaches. His daemon is some sort of wild beast he doesn’t have a name for… A bobcat? He’s never seen a real bobcat before.

He breathes too fast. His side swells and empties with a whizzing sound. Did he get hurt at some point? One of the lizard mutts maybe. Or on one of the battlefields. He doesn’t remember. All he remembers is the thunderclap that made him hollow. _Effie_. He wants Effie. He wants Effie so bad…

“He’s hurt.” the bobcat says.

She has a nice voice, Artemis decides, and tries to wriggle closer to her because she’s warm and alive and _not empty_ …

The daemon jumps out of reach.

“Look around. Find the woman.” the soldier orders the rest of his squad. “She can’t be far.”

Artemis closes his eyes.

If only they knew.

OOO

Haymitch is deep in the middle of a call with Hawthorne – ordering him to get Katniss on a hovercraft and back to Thirteen as soon as possible – when an officer approaches Coin to report an incident on the south perimeter of the District. Probable refugee, the man says, someone in bad shape, unlikely to be a threat.

He doesn’t pay it much attention.

Refugees come to Thirteen all the time nowadays.

OOO

“ _We can’t find her_.” comes a crackling voice through the soldier’s radio.

The man is crouching next to him and if Artemis was human he would have wept at his proximity. He wants to snuggle against him but he’s repulsed by the prospect of touching him. The dichotomy will kill him before long, he knows it deep _deep_ down. He cannot exist without someone. He cannot…

He wants Effie.

He wants…

“Haymitch Abernathy.” Artemis whispers.

“What?” the soldier says, his hand on the radio.

“Haymitch Abernathy.” he repeats, sounding all kind of hoarse and raw. “Tell him… Artemis… Haymitch…”

The man exchanges a dubious look with his bobcat.

Artemis curls up in a very tight ball.

OOO

The soldier approaches him just as he’s hanging up with Hawthorne. Haymitch’s busy looking at the reports that are trickling in and it’s Lucie who addresses the man. “What?”

“Sorry to bother you.” the soldier hesitates. “There is a situation on the surface… You’re needed up there.”

“Why?” Lucie dismisses, her attention already going back to the maps. “We’re busy.”

And if it’s about another downpour of roses, she doesn’t want to know.

“There’s a daemon’s asking for you. Says his name is Artemis.” the soldier says.

Lucie barely has time to register the information before Haymitch grabs her and runs.

OOO

“ _Still no sign_.” the soldier says through the radio.

The squad leader is sitting next to Artemis now, still holding his gun but also looking at the tiger with pity.

Even the bobcat looks like she’s pitying him.

Artemis can understand.

He feels like death so he cannot look much better. He must _smell_ like it too.

No more perfume for Artemis… No more bowties… No more…

“Can you tell us where she is?” the man tries again. He’s been asking for fifteen minutes. “We can help but you’ve got to tell us…”

And then finally, _blissfully_ , the sound of familiar footsteps in the distance…

He lifts his head, feeling her approach even before he can see her…

Lucie is on him before he can even attempt to croak out her name. She climbs on his front leg, find her favorite spot in the fur of his neck, nuzzles and nudges and nips at his ear even though his fur is disguting…

“You’re here! You’re here!” she says again and again and he thinks that if she could cry, she too would be weeping. She laughs instead. “Artemis! You’re _here_!”

“Kitty!” Haymitch shouts and then he’s there too, kneeling right next to him. The victor looks around, finds the squad’s leader eyes. “Where’s Effie?”

The soldier shakes his head. “We can’t locate his human.”

Haymitch does a double take but all Artemis can focus on is Lucie’s warmth as she presses herself against him, how good it feels…

“They don’t have that much range…” he says. “If she’s not around she must be in agony by now… Widen the search… She must be _really_ hurt. She’s…”

Haymitch’s hand is pressed to the ground right next to his head and Artemis stretches his neck because Lucie is all well and good but he needs to fill the hole in his chest and…

Haymitch jerks his hand back and Artemis whimpers at the rejection…

It’s a reflex, he knows. You do not touch someone’s else daemon, not without express permission, but…

Lucie nuzzles his head, comforting and soothing all at once.

“Kitty, you’ve got to tell me where Effie is…” Haymitch coaxes. “I’ll go get her. I’m gonna… Lucie can stay with you. We can try at least. But I need to find Effie. Where’s she?”

The daemon forces himself to open eyes he doesn’t remember closing.

Everything hurts now.

Lucie’s comforting weight is making him dizzy. He’s drunk on her warmth and her love and still he needs more. He needs so much more, it’s _agony_.

“Capitol.” he breathes out.

OOO

Haymitch freezes.

He shares a look with Lucie.

“I’m thirsty.” Artemis complains.

“You’re hurt.” Haymitch corrects. “And not thinking straight.”

Daemons aren’t thirsty.

Daemons can’t travel to the other side of the country without their human.

It’s impossible.

“Think, kitty.” he begs. “You were in the city… You escaped somehow… Where’s Effie? Is she in the woods? Close?”

He listens as the soldier checks in with the rest of his squad but the answer is always the same: _negative_.

“Capitol.” the tiger repeats. “They did… They did _things_ to us. Experiments. They broke us. Haymitch… Haymitch, they _broke_ us.”

It dawns on him then that the daemon isn’t just hurt or confused and that, maybe, he should have been more careful because it’s entirely possible they did the same thing to him they did to Peeta. But Artemis doesn’t look like he wants to kill him. Artemis looks…

_Experiments_.

But not the same kind.

That’s now what he’s saying…

But what he _is_ saying…

What he’s saying is…

“Impossible.” Lucie chides, bumping her small head against the tiger’s huge one. “Effie _must_ be out here in the woods. We’re gonna find her and…”

“They broke us.” Artemis repeats in flat tone.

Haymitch rubs his hand against his mouth, fighting a sudden bout of dizziness.

If what he’s saying is true, it’s not just the fact that Effie is still trapped out of his reach, it’s that… What has been done to her is _horrifying_. He cannot even understand the depth of the violation.

The idea of being cut off Lucie…

It’s not just terrifying, it goes against _everything._ It’s so deeply _wrong_ he doesn’t even have the words to express his horror, his disgust, his… It’s _impossible_.

But Artemis wouldn’t lie. Not about something like that.

And the things they did to Peeta’s daemon… The Capitol has never been above playing dirty.

“Sir?” the soldier asks uncertainly, looking just as nauseated as he feels. The man has a firm hold on his own daemon and the bobcat is pressing herself against her human’s legs.

“Keep searching just in case.” he orders blankly. “And get a medic team up here. A daemon specialized one.” His eyes dart down at the tiger that looks more brown and black than white now and he feels his heart breaking in his chest. There’s blood in the fur too. “Artemis, what can we do to help?”

OOO

It’s the first time Haymitch ever used his name, he thinks slowly.

He stretches his neck towards the victor’s hand again. “Hold me.”

Haymitch blinks and licks his lips.

The soldier’s face behind him is one of shock. The bobcat recoils.

Artemis doesn’t care.

He doesn’t care that it’s not something that is done except in very rare cases, with very old couples.

He doesn’t care that propriety dictates that it should only happen in the privacy of a locked room because it’s such an abomination the sight shouldn’t be inflicted on others.

He doesn’t care.

He just wants the loneliness to go away.

He just wants to fill the empty hole Effie left.

He just wants the pain to recede even if only for a moment.

“ _Please_ , hold me.” he begs. “I _need_ you.”

OOO

“Lucie?” Haymitch asks, hesitant.

This feels different than the gentle touches they exchanged in Effie’s bedroom so many weeks ago.

This feels…

This feels like adopting a daemon that isn’t his for the foreseeable future. This feels like something that should be discussed with his own daemon because they are not supposed to _share_ and…

“Yes.” Lucie says immediately, sliding down the tiger’s side to leave him more room.

Haymitch moves closer but he’s still hesitant. His hand hovers over the tiger’s side…

He can count the daemon’s ribs and his chest is rising and falling so quickly… He looks in so much pain…

“I don’t want to hurt you.” he breathes out. “Are you sure about this?”

Artemis lets out a long whining sound… “I need you. _Please_.”

He doesn’t dare lift the tiger’s body up. He’s not even sure he _could_ do it really, not after the withdrawals have left him feeling so weak.

He lies down on the ground instead and spoons the tiger like he’s seen Effie do a thousand times. There are stones digging in his side and the sensation as he curls around the daemon is weird.

There is no flash of lust for Effie, none of the bursts of feelings he got when Artemis nuzzled his hand before… He can still _vaguely_ feel her through the contact but it’s so distant it doesn’t really count, like a fickle of his imagination more than a real thing.

It doesn’t feel like touching another person’s daemon.

Artemis sighs in obvious relief though and before Haymitch can understand what happened, he’s flat on his back and the tiger’s on top of him and he can barely breathe because Artemis’s so damn heavy.

He feels fear for a short moment, fear that he’s been duped and that Artemis is just as drugged as Peeta daemon’s was and… But the tiger doesn’t try to rip his throat off, if anything he’s just trying to cuddle closer…

“You need to go on a diet, kitty.” he deadpans, burying his hand in his dirty fur.

“You feel so good…” Artemis purrs. “Warm. _Perfect_.” His big head seeks Haymitch’s hand until he gets the drift and pet the back of his neck. “ _Yes_. Like _that_. _Perfect_.”

Haymitch coughs.

There’s nothing _sexual_ to the situation, nothing at all, but in a way it’s maybe even worse because it’s _Effie’s soul_ he’s cradling against his chest and it’s more intimate than anything he’s ever done and…

“Sweetheart, we have an audience.” Lucie mocks, nuzzling the tiger’s shoulder. Artemis licks her whole snout with a very long raspy tongue. _That_ , Haymitch feels very well through his bond with his daemon.

That’s not something they do in public either.

Mostly because _that_ sends a shock of desire through his body that he doesn’t need when he’s trapped under a huge tiger. He shakes it off easily though. Effie’s not here and he’s too worried about her to focus on anything else.

It’s not exactly normal behavior for Artemis though.

“Are you drunk?” Haymitch asks, gently petting his fur. He’s worried maybe he shouldn’t have touched him, maybe he should just have… “Did I break you more?”

Artemis lowers his head back on his chest and the daemon’s whole body relaxes becoming even heavier. “I love you too.”

_Oh_ , Haymitch muses, _so I can’t feel her but they can still feel me_ … 

OOO

Artemis’ mind refuses to compute.

He’s vaguely aware there is something called a medic who wants to take him away from Haymitch.

All he sees is a white gown and people with special gloves.

He might or might not have swung his paw, claws out.

He might or might not have snarled, all fangs and drool like an animal. 

Nobody will take his other human away from him. Not again. _Never_.

He can’t have Effie but Haymitch is the next best thing.

Artemis is vaguely aware he’s speaking out loud but even his own words don’t make much sense to him.

“Kitty, I’m not going anywhere.” Haymitch promises again and again. “You’ve got to stand up just a little bit so we can get you on the stretcher… I’ll stay right here, I swear…”

“We’ve got you.” Lucie repeats sounding more and more distressed. “We’re never letting you go again. Kitty, we love you. _We love you_.”

He knows.

He feels it everywhere he’s touching Haymitch.

That fills the hole left by Effie’s absence nicely.

That too, he thinks he says out loud.

“I’m sorry, kitty.” Haymitch whispers.

Artemis wants to ask why but before he can open his mouth, everything fades to black.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Is Artemis badass or what? Someone wraps that tiger in a shock blanket! What did you think? Let me know your thoughts!


	14. Mushy People

It takes Lucie and Haymitch five good minutes to move Artemis from him and onto the stretcher after the sedative takes effect.

They refuse to let the soldiers and the medics help even if they all have special gloves on.

He ignores the staring too.

When the men carry the stretcher down Thirteen’s bowels, he keeps a hand firmly buried in Artemis’ fur. Lucie remains curled up on top of the tiger, fiercely glaring at anyone who comes too close.

Nobody will hurt their kitty again. Not on their watch.

OOO

Artemis comes to and his mind is clearer but there is a lot of beeping machines that hurt his ears and he flattens them out. He’s lying on a bed on his side and he’s so tired his whole body feels like lead. Everything is sore. His legs, his neck… Every muscle he owns.

“It’s alright, kitty… You’re safe now. All good. We’ve got you.”

He relaxes immediately, giving in to the strong hands petting him, massaging the tension away… Lucie is curled up against the soft fur of his belly and he flicks his tail in contentment…

“Artemis?” a stranger’s voice asks. “Are you still in pain?”

He hisses when the man with the white gown comes too close, he tries to move back… Haymitch’s hands are both firmly planted on his back, preventing him from rolling over and bolting from the bed.

“It’s _alright_.” the victor repeats.

“He’s just a doctor. He won’t hurt you.” Lucie whispers, squirming up against her belly until she can nestle under his chin. “I promise I’m gonna bite him if he tries. He won’t hurt you. You’re fine. We’ve got you now. We’ve got you.”

Haymitch leans further down. Artemis can feel the warmth of his body and it’s better…

“Are you still in pain?” his victor asks and Artemis has to think about that.

There is an always present ache where Effie used to be but it’s better with Haymitch and Lucie surrounding him. His paws hurt something fierce though and he’s still thirsty.

He says as much.

“How can you be thirsty?” Haymitch frowns as if _that one_ is really puzzling him.

“It might be related to the distance between him and your escort.” the doctor theorizes. “He might feel more physical needs than usual. Should we try a drip or…”

“No needles.” he growls. “No one touches me.” Haymitch’s hands immediately lift off his fur and he makes a low keening noise at the return of the terrible cold loneliness. “Not _you_. _Never_ you. You’re _mine_.” Lucie bristles a little and he amends. “ _Ours_.” He knows what he’s asking. If anyone, even Lucie, has tried to claim Effie… “ _Please_ …”

“Anything.” Lucie whispers, nuzzling him. “Even that.”

“I think…” the doctor hesitates, addressing Haymitch. “For now it would be better for you to keep a constant contact. I trust you aren’t in any discomfort yourself?” Haymitch shakes his head and the doctor turns to the vixen. “Lucie, are you alright with this arrangement?”

“I’m alright as long as he’s alright.” Lucie answers and Artemis loves her so much… He presses his head against hers, hopes she can feel it…

“I can’t feel Effie.” Haymitch says bluntly. “Not really.”

The sound of her name alone is like a stab in Artemis’ heart.

“They broke us.” Artemis whispers.

They ask him to tell them everything he can remember so he does. He tells them about the interrogations and the torture and how they have been moved before the victors were rescued… He tells them about the weird hospital place and the experiments… He tells them about the machine…

The doctor stops him at that point and comes back with more of his kind, all white gowns and curious looking daemons… It reminds him too much of the bad place.

Artemis wants Effie.

He wants Effie so badly it hurts.

It’s scary. _They_ ’re scary. He’s half certain they will grab him and toss him in another machine or just drag him away from Haymitch and Lucie again and he would be alone and tired and…

“I’ve got you, kitty.” Haymitch reminds him gently.

“We love you.” he says. But the _we_ doesn’t feel right because he cannot tell what Effie is feeling right now, if she is feeling anything at all… “I love you.”

He’s never really been an _I_ before. It’s weird. Everything is weird.

He can tell Haymitch would like it better if he stopped saying that out loud and in front of people though.

“I know.” the victor says and Lucie licks his snout and it’s better, much better.

“I think I am crazy.” he confesses.

“Not crazy, no.” the doctor says quickly. “Actually, you are very coherent for a daemon whose human is at the other end of the country. It’s fascinating. About that machine…”

He tells them what he remembers. It’s not much.

Haymitch’s jaw is clenched and Lucie is trembling with rage against him when he’s finished.

“Can you still feel Effie?” the doctor asks.

He starts shaking his head and then pauses, unsure. “There’s an ache where she used to be. It hurts more when Haymitch isn’t touching me. We love him.”

“Yeah, thanks, kitty…” Lucie snorts. “I think the whole District’s aware by now.”

OOO

The working theory is that since Haymitch and Effie have a close intimate relationship and they already touched their respective daemons before, his proximity brings Artemis some relief. That and Effie’s feelings for him help the daemon to do some sort of… _emotional transfer._

They discuss it all at lengths while Haymitch only listens with one ear, too busy running his hands in Artemis’ fur, desperate to _help_ … Lucie is at a loss too. At some point, she curls up between the two of them so she can touch them both. He knows it’s hard for her to share him like that. Not painful but hard. Daemons are exclusive. It’s one thing to touch someone’s else daemon in an intimate moment, it’s another one to keep a constant contact.

The doctors do not think the connection between Effie and her daemon is entirely broken, which, he supposes, is good. They think the link is most likely stretched beyond its limits like a rubber band but they can’t do any more until they actually can access _Effie_.

“I don’t want to stay here.” Artemis whispers while the doctors are busy debating what they can do to make the tiger’s stay in the hospital more palatable. “It smells too much like _there_.”

“Your paws are hurt.” Lucie objects. “You can’t walk on them, you’ll hurt them more…”

“I don’t care.” the tiger retorts. “I want to go away.” He half-sits up suddenly and Haymitch automatically adjusts his grip as if to restrain him. “The children! I can’t believe I forgot! Where are the children? Are they alright? How is Peeta? And Johanna? And _Katniss_?”

It takes a lot of time to explain everything he and Effie missed and Lucie is the one who catches him up, mostly Haymitch deals with the doctors who don’t really want to let the only daemon known to go so far from their human escape their grasps.

They want to _study_ him.

Haymitch almost punches one of them for voicing that out loud.

OOO

Thirteen is a depressing place that reminds Artemis far too much of the cells.

He dutifully follows Haymitch down the corridor, Lucie curled up between his shoulder blades, and the victor’s hand loosely wrapped around his neck.

People stare but Artemis ignores them.

Haymitch and Lucie do too.

The compartment is bare and grey. It makes him feel claustrophobic. He cannot stop thinking about Effie alone in a cell, staring ahead without seeing like these human shells they sometimes locked him with.

“Can you clean me up?” he asks Haymitch.

He doesn’t like the pain in the man’s grey eyes any more than he likes the regret and guilt he gets from Lucie when they touch.

“Sure.” Haymitch agrees easily.

Artemis usually loves baths but the bathroom is tiny and hasn’t been designed for a grown man and a tiger. Lucie is forced to wait on the threshold while Haymitch does his best to clean his white fur under the freezing water that comes out of the shower. At least, Artemis can drink his full.

There is water everywhere by the time they both declare themselves satisfied.

He isn’t clean _everywhere_ and some patches of fur are still matted but he feels a little bit more like himself.

OOO

“I’m sorry for taking him away from you.” Artemis tells Lucie while Haymitch tosses towels on the puddles of water that are spreading everywhere.

The vixen frowns and purposefully coils her tail around the tiger big paw. “You aren’t. I can share him until we find Effie. Then, you can share her with me a little and we won’t ever be apart again.”

Artemis rests his head down and closes his eyes. “We love you. _I_ love you.”

“We love you too.” Lucie hums.

“You’ve got to _stop_ saying that all the time.” Haymitch grumbles, kicking one of the soaked towels. “What are we? Mushy people?”

The tiger presses his cheek against her tail and Lucie rests her head on top of his. For all Haymitch’s grumbling she knows he likes beings reminded of it.

“I can’t feel her…” Artemis whispers, his voice breaking. “It’s all pain and darkness… She’s lost to me… _Lost_ …”

“We’ll find her.” Lucie promises. “We’ll find her and we’ll kill everyone who tries to stop us.”

She doesn’t glance at Haymitch.

She knows he shares the sentiment.

They don’t like killing.

But for their family they would murder the whole country.

OOO

Thirteen is an underground maze and Artemis longs for blue sky.

His paws leave a bloody trail behind them.

He’s disoriented and tired and it would be easier if Haymitch could just stop and lie down for a while but a war is never done and there is work to do – or so Lucie tells him.

“Take it easy, kitty.” Haymitch whispers, rubbing the still wet fur behind his neck.

If only there _was_ an easy way.

OOO

There is stuff to take care of.

Coin, in particular, seems both fascinated and repulsed by what has been done to Haymitch’s escort – or maybe it’s the way he’s sticking close to a daemon who isn’t his. A little _too_ fascinated in his opinion. He hopes it’s going to give her _ideas_.

“Who elected a woman with a hyena for a daemon as a president?” Artemis grumbles.

“Who elected someone with a _snake_?” Lucie retorts.

Haymitch lets them bicker all they want. At least, when they’re arguing, Artemis sounds a little more like himself and less like a crazy cat who can’t shut up about loving them. He tries to keep his going around the District to a minimum all afternoon so the tiger doesn’t have to walk on his hurt paws – the pads of his paws are calloused and cracked but that’s what happens when you run around for weeks on uneven grounds and battlefield without stopping.

He spends the whole day in briefings about Two with the tiger draped over his feet and his vixen coiled around his neck when she’s not curled up against the other daemon.

“There have always been secret experiments.” Beetee tells them later during dinner, watching Artemis with such sadness Haymitch feels compelled to pet him even if the tiger is already resting his head on his lap. “Some people in the Capitol think daemons are a liability. As far as I know, Effie’s the first time separation as been done so successfully though.”

“Where is the _success_?” Artemis growls. “She is probably as coherent as a vegetable right now. She is more alone than anyone should be. She…”

The daemon moves as if to storm away but doesn’t make it three steps before he has to turn back and press himself against Haymitch’s side, trembling and looking ill.

Lucie drops from Haymitch’s shoulder to her usual spot between the tiger’s shoulder blades.

Artemis relaxes.

Haymitch keeps glaring at Beetee.

OOO

Neither Artemis, Haymitch nor Lucie are certain the bunk bed won’t break under their combined weight.

Artemis doesn’t care though, he’s sleeping next to Haymitch, no room for debate.

“We’re gonna need a _huge_ bed when this _shit_ is over.” Lucie grumbles, retreating to the pillow because there isn’t enough room for her to curl up against his belly like she likes to do when they can. Artemis is sorry about that. He likes it when he can wrap himself around her. But the only way it’s going to work is with him and Haymitch on their sides, Haymitch spooning him.

“We’re not telling anyone about this.” Haymitch snorts. “Ever. If any of the kids learns I’m cuddling you like a giant teddy bear at night, I’m never gonna hear the end of it…”

“I love you.” Artemis mumbles.

Haymitch sighs and wraps his arm around his body, pressing his cheek against the fur of his back. “I miss her too.”

He doesn’t want to talk about Effie. No more than Haymitch wants to, he’s sure.

And yet…

“She sent me to you.” he whispers. “I did not want to leave her. She said… She told me to run and find you so we could save her but she was lying. She knew her mind would go once the connection broke. She is so… She is so _vibrant_ … Some people can live without a soul, you know, but…”

“Not Effie.” Haymitch says, his voice hoarse. “ _Never_ Effie…”

“She cannot exist without me.” Artemis confirms. “She wanted me to be with you because she did not want you to lose _all_ of her. And she did not want me to be alone.”

“You’re not alone.” Lucie promises. “You’re _never_ gonna be alone.”

“We’re gonna fix this.” Haymitch adds. “Don’t know how yet but… We’re gonna fix this. Maybe if we just get you back to her… The doctors says your range is just stretched so… Maybe if we _just_ get you back to her…”

Artemis doesn’t answer, not at once. His tail is flicking, betraying his dreadful thoughts. “The people I saw down there, they were dead inside. And the daemons… The daemons were _insane_. If we cannot fix it…”

“We will.” Haymitch says firmly as if another option isn’t even worth mentioning.

“But if we _cannot_ …” Artemis insists. “What will happen to Effie? Will you… Will you put her in a clinic or… Will you give her back to her mother? Because _Elindra_ will put us in a clinic, you know? And Jilo will be so smug and…”

“We’re gonna take her home.” Haymitch cuts him off. “We’re gonna take her home no matter what and we’re gonna take care of her until she comes back to herself, to _you_. The three of us. The kids are probably gonna want to help too. _That’s_ what we’re gonna do. Screw her mother. Screw clinics. She needs her family. She needs _us_.”

“We won’t give her up.” Lucie whispers. “How can you even _think_ we’d give her up?”

He doesn’t know how he could because deep down, he already knew they would _never_ .

But it seems his capacity for hoping remained with Effie in the Capitol.

Because all he feels under the constant ache is dread.

OOO

The story about Haymitch and his second daemon is all around the District before he can _think_ about doing some damage control so he decides not to worry about it.

Artemis is well known and most people figure out who he is.

They figure out everything else too soon enough.

There’s only one way someone can touch another human’s daemon as easily as Haymitch does and that speaks of such intimacy there is no doubt about the nature of their relationship. Some people feel sorry for them and tell him straight out, others understandably disparage him for being that deeply involved with an escort… Everyone knows his most precious secret and he’s forced to let it go. 

How worse can it get anyway?

It gets worse when Katniss finally wakes up in the hospital – even though Johanna assures him she woke up and chatted with her a few times already – and her grey eyes immediately find the tiger. She looks around, confused. “Where’s Effie?”

The girl almost looks like she expects their escort to jump out of the closet yelling ‘ _surprise!’_. Although knowing Effie, it isn’t _that_ far-stretched.

“Long story.” Haymitch sighs.

By the time he’s done telling it, Katniss’ daemon has nestled on Artemis’ head.

From then on, when they’re all in the same room, the three daemons are always huddling close together.

“We’ll find her.” Katniss promises Artemis with the fierceness that has made her the Mockingjay.

For the first time in a long time Haymitch breathes a little more easily.

If Katniss is determined to find their escort then good luck to whoever tries to stop her…

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> They're very mushy daemons and poor Haymitch's reputation as a tough man will be ruined ;) So is their link broken or just stretched? That's the question. What did you think?


	15. Soulmates

Primrose finds Artemis a frayed golden tinsel and Haymitch knots it around his neck in the best way he can with his shaky fingers.

Artemis loves it.

It’s not quite a bowtie but it’s close enough.

OOO

They make people uncomfortable, Haymitch knows.

Coin makes a couple of remarks in Command about how the _humanless_ daemon might be better off in the hospital than trailing after him… Every time people see him touching Effie’s tiger, they recoil.

They get used to the sight of him and his two daemons after a couple of weeks, of course, but the instinctive recoil is still there.

Even Katniss, Prim and Finnick clench their jaws when they witness him touching Artemis freely, as if the tiger were his.

A part of him understands. If he saw someone touching another person’s daemon so casually, he would probably be disgusted too.

“Are we so wrong?” Artemis whispers to Lucie under the briefing table after one of Coin’s unsubtle remarks. He always makes himself small after that sort of comments because he’s scared he _will_ be banished away from them – as if Haymitch would let anyone take the tiger from him.

Artemis is curled up on his feet, his spine against his shins, and Lucie is sprawled on the tiger’s side, regularly flicking her bushy tail against his face to tease him.

“We’re not wrong at all.” Lucie scoffs. “ _Fuck_ them. They can’t handle it cause they’ve never loved someone like we do.”

Haymitch shifts on his chair, hoping the daemons’ conversation isn’t carrying too far. If Plutarch’s amused look on the other side of the table is to be believed though, it carries to the Head Gamemaker.

“We really _do_ love you.” Artemis concedes. “Even when we hated you, we loved you. I can’t even remember when we started.”

“Same.” Lucie says simply.

Plutarch’s pinching his lips not to smile – or laugh – and Haymitch discretely nudges the tiger with his foot, hoping he will get the hint and _shut up_. But when has _Effie_ ever gotten his hints when she didn’t want to? Artemis is the same.

“I know.” the tiger hums, bumping his head against Haymitch’s leg in a playful gesture of affection. “You love us so entirely… It’s why it feels so good when Haymitch touches me.”

Of course, Artemis has to say that when there is a lull of conversations in the room.

He might or might not have blushed.

“Nothing sexual!” Lucie calls out from under the table, having probably realized how awkward the whole conversation was. There is laughter in her voice though so maybe she just likes torturing him. “Get your minds out of the gutter, people! We just _love_ them!”

“Will you both _shut up!_ ” Haymitch growls, nudging them more firmly with his foot.

He doesn’t know who starts chuckling first but soon the whole room is laughing and it takes Coin five minutes to get order back.

“Control your daemons, Abernathy.” the hyena orders.

“Like I can.” he grumbles under his breath.

OOO

There are times, Artemis feels Effie’s absence more than at others.

When he’s close to Haymitch but not actually touching him skin to fur.

When he loses himself inside his own skull.

When Lucie is in a huff about something or other he said to her and perches on Haymitch’s shoulder instead of cuddling with him.

There is no coaxing him out of these moods. They swallow him. Everything is dark and dull and hopeless…

It usually lasts until Haymitch sits down with him and rubs his fur for a long _long_ time.

“Maybe you’re spiraling into her…” Haymitch suggests once, when he tries to explain where his mind goes when he feels like that. “You said… You said she thought she’d be… _brain_ _dead_ after… But maybe she’s not. Maybe she’s just… _Lost_. Like you. Maybe you’re spiraling into her mind and that means you’re still linked, yeah? You can get her back to us.”

There is so much hope in the victor’s voice he doesn’t want to disappoint him.

He doesn’t know if it’s Effie he feels or the madness creeping on him at the edges of his own mind.

Daemons weren’t created to be so far from their human. It goes against nature.

Haymitch is a temporary solution, a shelter in the storm, but Artemis knows the relief he brings him won’t last forever.

And he doesn’t want it to. It doesn’t seem fair for him to be relatively alright when Effie is suffering on her own.

OOO

Haymitch’s never been a big sleeper but after Artemis’ arrival in Thirteen, he almost stops altogether.

The nightmares are horrible.

He dreams of Effie, of torture, of experiments being done on her…

Worse though, he’s scared he will wake up and find golden dust where the tiger used to lie.

OOO

The moment Peeta’s daemon spots Artemis, she starts running straight toward him.

Everyone tenses because they think she’s going to attack – she attacked Lucie or so the tiger has been told – but all she does is jump around him and try to climb over him like she’s still a puppy.

It was Artemis’ idea to go into Peeta’s room and he doesn’t regret it, not even though he has to leave Haymitch’s side to do it and it’s _so_ painful. The pain eases a little once he’s tangled up with the golden retriever anyway. Peeta’s daemon is warm and familiar and if it reminds him a little too much of the cells and what happened there, he swallows it down.

Peeta asks after Effie and becomes moody when he tells him what happened to them, makes a comparison with their own situation… The boy listens when Artemis tells him the Capitol is manipulating him, that Katniss has never been his enemy.. He listens but the tiger is not sure any of it sticks.

Delilah is happy to see him though and doesn’t care about the technical considerations. The golden retriever spends the whole visit lying next to his side, soaking up his warmth, watching him with adoring eyes.

OOO

Haymitch rubs his mouth, focuses on his plate full of insipid turnips and tries not to think too much.

When he thinks, it hurts.

Artemis is a part of Effie, a huge part of her, but he’s still not the whole thing and while he’s happy to have the tiger safe and under his protection, he still misses her and worries himself sick about her.

It’s made worse by the fact there’s nothing he can do for now but wait until the Capitol actually _falls._

The only thing he _can_ do is keep her soul safe until he can give it back to her.

OOO

Artemis enjoys Finnick and Annie’s wedding as much as he can enjoy a party without Effie.

He, Haymitch and Lucie remain mostly in the back and out of the way of the cameras though. They haven’t discussed it with anyone but they know that, even though most people have grown used to the weirdness of him touching another woman’s daemon, it’s not something that belongs on national TV. That _and_ Haymitch doesn’t want the Capitol to know Artemis is in Thirteen. He’s afraid of what that would mean for Effie.

The cider is weak or so Haymitch keeps complaining.

Artemis likes the music though. He sits with his head on Haymitch’s lap, his eyes closed as he listens to the lively traditional songs, his tail flicking in time with the beat… Lucie is sitting on the table, close enough that he can feel her even though they’re not touching so that’s okay.

“Haymitch, won’t you dance?” a woman asks mid-laugh. Her daemon is some sort of mouse – a meadow vole, Lucie will correct later with unabashed amusement.

It takes him a while to remember her name is Hazelle and that she used to be Haymitch’s housekeeper.

He flattens his ears with obvious irritation.

“Can’t she see you’re _taken_?” he sneers as Haymitch waves the woman off with a joke.

“Are you jealous?” Lucie teases, lying flat on the table with her tiny red paws dangling down so she can better watch Artemis.

“I just think she could be more considerate.” he growls. “You are _clearly_ unavailable.”

“What makes you say that?” Haymitch mocks. “The manacle around my wrist?”

The victor waves his hand in the air, showing him the golden bangle that has seen better days.

Lucie rolls playfully on her back, her eyes never wandering away from his. “Or maybe the huge kitten attached to our hips?”

“It ain’t _that_ obvious…” Haymitch finishes, wriggling his eyebrows in a rare show of good humor.

Artemis sniffs disdainfully at their taunts. “Mock me but you love us and that woman should stay away from the two of you or I will eat her mouse. We will see how funny you find it then.”

Haymitch and Lucie share an amused look.

“Sorry, I can tell if you eating a pour mouse daemon is better or worse than setting some woman’s dress on fire…” Haymitch chuckles.

“We didn’t.” Artemis lies. “Effie _accidentally_ dropped her cigarette on that huge trail.”

“I’m sure.” the man humors him.

“Then, there’s the time _you_ made that model trip in the swimming pool…” Lucie hums.

Artemis shudders at the memory of that woman’s bare legs against his fur. Worth it though.

“I have no idea what you are talking about.” he huffs.

“You’re so possessive…” Haymitch shakes his head but his hand finds its way to Artemis’ fur and he scratches him behind the neck, right where the daemon likes it best.

“You love it.” Artemis accuses. “You never could wait to jump on Effie when she…”

He lets his sentence trail off and Haymitch’s hand freezes in his fur.

They don’t mention Effie a lot.

It’s too painful to all of them.

“I miss her.” Lucie whispers, sitting back up.

“We all do.” Haymitch mutters.

They remain gloomy for a while and Artemis can feel himself spiraling in one of his moods. It takes him efforts to inflect some cheer in his voice. “Do you know… I think when this whole thing is over… We will marry you.”

That implies Effie _isn’t_ actually brain dead and that they can reverse what has been done to them but…

Haymitch looks so miserable, he wants to help.

“Is that a proposal, kitty?” the victor snorts.

Artemis rolls his eyes. “Lucie will marry us. Won’t you, Lucie?”

Lucie gracefully leaps down the table and onto Haymitch’s lap to nip at Artemis’ ear. “ _My_ tiger.”

“My love.” he answers firmly and, this time, neither of them freaks out or pushes him away.

Haymitch resumes his petting.

Artemis closes his eyes and purrs.

OOO

“So… You and Effie…” Katniss asks tentatively one day at lunch.

It’s only the two of them today. They met by accident in the dining hall, she’s late after soldier training and he was too desperate to eat something to deny his body any longer so he fled Command. The dining all is nearly deserted, only a couple of soldiers on the other side of the giant room. It’s as private as it gets.

The three daemons are piled up together under the table, Artemis’ tail wrapped around his ankle.

“What about it?” he retorts, gruff and cold.

He’s not in the mood to discuss his escort. He’s _never_ in the mood. It takes all he has _not_ to punch people who make nasty remarks behind his back and it takes all _Lucie_ has to stop their tiger from snarling at them.

He understands why some people think he is a traitor or call her a slut and worse.

It doesn’t mean he can take it when she’s hurt and alone at the other side of the country without even her daemon as support.

Katniss chases the meager allotment of meat around her trail. It’s rabbit or something like that, Haymitch thinks, and like everything else in that place, it tastes _bland_.

If they ever get out of there, he will ask her to catch a rabbit and he will cook it with mustard. He does a mean rabbit in mustard sauce when he bothers to actually cook.

“How long?” the girl finally manages to ask.

“Long enough.” he mutters.

“More than a decade.” Artemis helpfully pips out from under the table.

“ _Shut up,_ kitty.” Haymitch grumbles and reaches to flick his huge ear in reprimand.

A very clawed paw is placed on his knee as a reminder that Artemis is _not_ actually a kitten.

They’re not as neat as they used to be, these claws. Effie used to lime them and polish them and, on some years, when fashion dictated it, to his and Lucie’s never-ending amusement, she painted them bright colors with nail polish.

The memory makes him so sad that he covers the huge paw and rubs it with his thumb in comforting circles.

Katniss’ eyes go round as saucers. “How can you touch him like _that_?”

He frowns, confused. “Ain’t the first time you see me touch him. _Hell_ … I spend all my time with him glued to my side…”

The girl pursed her lips as if to physically try to stop herself from asking but then she shakes her head. Pogo flies from under the table and settles on her shoulder. She immediately reaches to pet his feathers.

“It’s just…” she winces. “It’s one thing when he’s lying against your legs, I guess… Over clothes. But when you touch him like _that_ …”

Lucie hops on a chair and on the table. She sits and tilts her head to the side, apparently curious to know where her reasoning is going.

“I had to touch Prim’s daemon sometimes when she was younger.” she explains. “It felt so _wrong_ … Pogo always carried him for me when he could. She touched Pogo too and it was… It wasn’t _awful_ but it wasn’t nice either. And it’s _Prim_. That’s the person I love most in all the world. So you and Effie’s daemon…”

Haymitch is debating putting an end to the conversation because it’s too complicated to explain, too complicated to talk about or put in words, and maybe there is also a problem of age here… Katniss is still very young despite all she’s been through. Haymitch has most of his life behind him by now and…

“Capitols kept touching me after we first won.” Lucie blurts out before he can tell her to _shut up_. The _Finnick_ revelation was enough and Haymitch already lied on that front. Being sold like cattle is not something he wants to admit to Katniss. In part because he’s ashamed, in part because he’s her mentor and he doesn’t want her to carry his burden. “ _That_ felt very _wrong_.” The vixen shudders and all the daemons wince in sympathy. Artemis’ big head is on the table too now, his body flushed against Haymitch’s legs. “When I touched Effie…” his daemon hums. “It felt like…”

Her voice trails off but Artemis is there, bumping his snout against her side.

“Coming home.” the tiger finishes for her.

Lucie visibly softens. “Yes. _That_.”

Katniss is watching the daemons as if she cannot wrap her head around it.

Haymitch sighs and spares a mild irritated glare for his daemons. “You’re making me look bad.”

“We are making you look human. Deal with it.” Artemis retorts.

“But doesn’t it make _you_ feel weird?” Katniss insists, pointing her fork at Haymitch.

As if of its own volition his hand runs over the fur of Artemis’ spine.

“She’s so far away…” he mumbles. “It doesn’t make me feel much of anything…”

It’s not the right thing to say, he knows at once.

Artemis flops down on the floor and loses himself in one of his dark spells.

It takes Lucie and him a whole hour to coax him out of it.

OOO

“We killed someone.” Artemis confesses in the safety of the compartment’s bathroom.

It comes out without him really planning it.

Haymitch is staring at the small square mirror, the bottom half of his face covered with shaving cream. He’s cleaning blood from the razor’s blade because he nicked himself.

Lucie was against him even _attempting_ to shave with his unsteady hands and she’s sulking between Artemis’ shoulder blades. Haymitch claimed the beard itched too much. Artemis objected that it’s because beards had to be trimmed regularly and Haymitch didn’t know how to groom.

And now he just blurt out something he cannot take back and the whole world is on pause.

“You or Effie?” Haymitch asks after what feels like a very a long minute.

“Does it make a difference?” he asks, curiously.

“No.” Lucie answers from his back. “It doesn’t.”

Artemis nods, a little sad that Effie will have to carry the weight of that. Assuming they get her back and they still have a connection.

“Perhaps she won’t remember.” he whispers. “It was just after…”

“I don’t think you had a choice, kitty.” Haymitch comforts him in a gentle voice.

“I rip the daemon’s head off.” Artemis tells him, lowering his head in shame. “It was like… like a _champagne cork_. It burst into dust in my mouth and the Peacekeeper… He _collapsed_.”

Haymitch is a big man and Artemis should have seen him move but in between two slow blinks, the victor was crouching in front of him, half his face still covered with that cream that smelt terrible.

His hands brushed his fur, dug in the thicker patches of hairs behind his ears…

“When it’s killed or be killed, you do what you’ve got to do, sweetheart.” Haymitch says firmly.

He’s not _sweetheart_. _Sweetheart_ is Effie. Artemis is _kitty_. But he’s not sure to which one of them Haymitch is talking. If he’s trying to get a message across to his human despite the lack of connection. If he’s hoping that _somehow_ Effie will know she’s got to do anything she can to survive until they come to the rescue.

That’s useless, Artemis could tell him, Effie is very much a survivor at the core. She doesn’t need the encouragements.

“I feel terrible.” he murmurs.

Haymitch sighs and leans down until his forehead is pressed against his head. “It doesn’t get easier but you can’t let it destroy you. He was a bad man and you needed to get out. And… If anyone else needs killing we’re gonna be the one to do it from now on, okay?”

“Is that supposed to be comforting?” Artemis scoffs. “Katniss is right. You are the _worst_ at pep talks.”

Lucie flicks his ear with her paw. “You’re high maintenance, kitty.”

“Well then.” he huffs. “Maybe you should go cuddle with a _meadow vole_.”

Haymitch snorts and stands back up to finish the terrible job he’s doing with the razor. “You’re never gonna let that go, yeah? Hazelle ain’t interested.”

“Oh, she _is_ interested.” he grumbles. “She is _very_ interested.”

“ _I_ ain’t.” Haymitch replies.

“’Cause we love you, remember?” Lucie chuckles, trying to nip at his ear. He’s forced to move his head around a few times to avoid her playful attempts and he ends up shaking her off and carefully pinning her down to the wet bathroom floor.

He nuzzles the soft red and white fur of her belly a little uncertainly. “Even if I am a murderer?”

“You forgot who you’re talking to, kitty?” Haymitch challenges.

There is no judgment in his voice, only grim acceptance.

Lucie licks his snout and that seals the deal.

Artemis relaxes. 

OOO

They are so rarely allowed outside that Haymitch soaks up the sun as much as he can, very aware that his skin is a sickly mix of yellow and unhealthy pallor.

Still, he uses his hand as a visor to track Katniss’ daemon in the sky. She’s hunting with Hawthorne and he offered himself up as a chaperone because he can’t take any more mayhem that day. The images coming from One are atrocious.

Lucie is on his lap, enjoying some rare alone time.

Artemis chose to brave the pain of separation to lie on a huge rock and enjoy the sun.

It’s not warm. Actually, it smells like snow and he’s pretty sure winter will be upon them before they can take the war to the Capitol. But anything beats being trapped in a giant bunker.

“Sometimes I think I feel her.” Artemis hums out of nowhere. “It’s all dark and empty where she used to be but… Sometimes I think _she_ ’s the dark and empty.”

Haymitch closes his eyes and tilts his head back.

He doesn’t know if it’s a good thing or a bad thing.

OOO

“I should have been a stoat.” Artemis sighs, late one night.

Command is on a break. People are moving around in search of tea or another warm drink… Artemis is watching the huge 3D map floating over the center of the table and it’s making him homesick.

He misses the Capitol so badly…

“Yeah, we still don’t know what that means.” Lucie mocks.

“But that’d have been much easier to move you around.” Haymitch adds helpfully, flipping shut the heavy binder in front of him.

Artemis resists the urge to make a face at them.

“If I had settled as a stoat, Effie would be married to one of the wealthy guys Elindra liked…” He stops and makes some calculations. “Actually, the guy would probably be dead of old age by now so we would be wealthy _and_ free.” _And safe_ , he doesn’t say. “I should have been a stoat.”

Haymitch and Lucie are silent for a long time, probably because they know him enough to read between the lines of what he isn’t saying. Probably because they feel it’s their fault Effie got sucked into this mess.

“Of course…” he adds after a moment, feeling bad. “We were always eager to make history so we probably _would_ have tried to become an escort anyway.”

It’s a poor attempt at comforting them.

“Nah…” Haymitch says after a while with a detachment far too stressed not to be fake. “Can’t see it. You ain’t a stoat.”

“Besides…” Lucie hums. “We’d never have fallen for a _stoat_ of all things.”

“Oh, because you thought you would be falling for a tiger?” he scoffs.

Lucie does something that looks like a shrug. “I know Haymitch. Nothing short of a tiger would have brought him back from the edge.”

“I do like my women feisty.” Haymitch agrees. “Can’t get any feistier than a white tiger with a bowtie.”

The frayed golden tinsel around his neck is a poor excuse of a bowtie but Artemis preens anyway.

OOO

Haymitch isn’t allowed back to his compartment often – which suits Lucie because she hates the place even though she wishes he’d take better care of himself – and he sleeps even less even when he is. But a human _has_ to rest and she likes watching him sleep. She thinks of it as her duty. When she sees the bad dreams creeping in, she tries to wake him up. Without the alcohol, the dreams are often worse than usual.

Artemis watches her watching him and it’s peaceful, calm.

They’re used to sharing that sort of calm at night while their humans sleep.

“They think we are deficient.” Artemis says suddenly.

Lucie turns her eyes to him. The bed is too small and the tiger is trying to take as little space as possible because Haymitch spread eagle style in his sleep.

“Who?” she asks.

“Everyone else.” he hums, resting his head on the small of Haymitch’s back. He makes it look so natural, as if the man belongs to him.

She suppresses the flash of jealousy. She’s so torn about the sharing. She knows it’s necessary and she wants to do it because she would do anything for Artemis and Effie but still… A part of her hates it, hates sharing _all the time…_ It’s unnatural and she rejects the mere idea of it. Another part sort of loves it, loves that they have _that_ kind of connection, that she knows if the situation was reversed – _never, never, never –_ Effie and Artemis would do the same for her…

“ _Fuck_ everyone else.” she scowls.

Artemis studies her for a while longer and then he smiles in that weird tiger way of his. “I think we are soulmates and that is why this whole arrangement works.”

She blinks several times at that. There is barely _one_ romantic bone in Haymitch’s body and, as a consequence, in hers. The idea that they could be _soulmates_ is ludicrous. “That doesn’t exist.”

“Says who?” he dismisses. “I know what I feel and I feel you in me all the time even when you are not here.”

She blinks some more, spares a glance for her sleeping human. “You’ve got to stop making everything sound so _damn_ sexual. People are already talking.”

“Sex…” Artemis wrinkles his nose. “I do not know why humans like it so much. It’s so…”

“Disgusting?” Lucie suggests, shuddering a little at the thought.

She likes what she shares with Artemis. It’s not clouded by lust or desire or ridiculous physical needs. It’s pure. And true.

Artemis nods. “All these sticky fluids…”

She silently agrees.

Not that it has ever stopped Haymitch and Effie. _They_ sure love sex. She’s fairly certain that when they get Effie back and she’s all better, they’re in for some sex marathons.

She doesn’t really mind though. While they do their thing, she will curl up against Artemis and maybe let him groom her fur and it will be like old times.

“We don’t believe in soulmates.” she hums. “But I wouldn’t mind being yours.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Guys, does this proposal count? Are they engage now? Artemis believes they're souuuuulmates! But he also a very scary bad excess of dark moods... Did you enjoy this chapter? Let me know your thoughts!


	16. Battlefield

Katniss and Pogo leave for the Capitol and Artemis hates watching the falcon and the girl go.

He hates that he feels bad things will happen.

He hates it so much he almost asks Haymitch to be allowed to accompany them. He knows it would mean leaving the victor behind and facing endless maddening pain but for the girl he would endure it.

Besides, it would mean being closer to Effie and _that_ would mean he could sneak out and find her and…

Haymitch must have an inkling about what is going on under his skull because in the safety of their compartment he wraps both arms around his neck and confesses something he never thought he’d hear the victor confess. “I need you.”

Lucie is deadly quiet.

Artemis’ only answer is to purr against the man’s neck.

He abandoned his human. He can’t abandon her mate too.

OOO

Haymitch knows he lost control the moment Plutarch informed him – with a lot of wincing – that Peeta was sent to the Capitol as a replacement for the Star Squad. Past tense. It’s already done before Haymitch is told. He’s not in charge of his kids anymore.

He destroys all the breakable things in his compartment in a fit of helpless rage and ends up sitting down in the middle of the mess with his hands over his face, hyperventilating.

There is a tentative nuzzling of his cheek on his right that he knows is Lucie and a franker – and more brutal – nudging on his left where Artemis is bumping his head against his shoulder.

“We will make it.” Artemis promises. “All of us. We will make it.”

“How?” Lucie scowls. “Don’t you get why she sent Peeta? She wants…”

She wants Katniss _dead_.

“We are a team.” Artemis cuts her off with a low growl. “And we are stronger than they think. Nobody ever bets on Twelve. _Nobody_.”

“And they’re right.” Haymitch mutters.

“No, they are _wrong_.” the tiger hisses, sounding so much like Effie that it’s almost uncanny. “And we will prove it to them. Katniss will _never_ hurt Peeta and Peeta will remember himself before it’s too late. We will survive, _all of us_. And when this is over…”

“We start a new life.” Lucie breathes out, tentatively hopeful. “Together. The four of us.”

“Yes.” Artemis purrs, nudging Haymitch’s hands away from his face. “Say it, Haymitch.”

It takes a few more minutes for his breathing to go back to normal and Lucie keeps nuzzling his face the whole time.

“We’re gonna stay alive.” he finally says. “And we’re gonna kick the _shit_ out of anyone who tries to hurt our kids.”

“That woman and her hyena don’t know what’s coming to them.” Lucie approves with a growl of her own.

They would have to make her disappear one way or another, Haymitch muses, no way he’s taking out Snow to replace him with the same brand of tyrant.

OOO

Five hours after the Star Squad is declared missing, they are cleared to accompany President Coin to an advance post in the outskirts of the Capitol.

There is a fuss that Plutarch and his spider have to smooth because, suddenly, Coin feels like Artemis’ presence is a problem. She flats out accuses him of spying and Artemis sits there, half leaning against Haymitch’s leg, and stares at her with open loathing.

It doesn’t help his case, as Lucie points out _repeatedly_ in the hovercraft.

What can he says, he doesn’t know if he hates the woman more than he hates the hyena but he certainly wouldn’t mind smacking that ridiculous high-pitched voice dog at the back of the head.

Artemis doesn’t even care about the veiled threats clearly aimed at upsetting Haymitch.

He spends the whole ride pacing, not even really minding the pain of being away from Haymitch, because _they’re on their way to the Capitol and that means they are on their way to Effie_.

He only settles down on Haymitch’s feet when Lucie bodily drags him back – which is apparently an amusing sight to see given that every person and daemon save for Coin and her hyena laugh their head off.

Haymitch isn’t quite happy with the display.

OOO

Haymitch is being shut down from the highest spheres of the rebellion and he can see it plain as day.

The advance Command post is little more than a camp with huge tents and a lot of humans and daemons roaming around. Coin, Plutarch, Beetee and some of her closest advisers have been in the biggest tent since sunrise.

Haymitch hasn’t been invited to join the briefing even though he has spent most of the war leading the tactic operations. He has been ordered to one of the smallest tents and has spent most of his time since landing watching grainy surveillance footage. Live and recorded alike.

“Here.” Lucie says, nodding at one of the several screens in front of them.

The technician helpfully zooms on what she thinks she’s seen but it turns out to be a random girl with dark hair. Not Katniss.

It’s been hours since the squad went missing but they know the kids were alive when they disappeared in the city.

They have footage of their exiting the sewers, footage of Finnick dying…

He called Thirteen himself, told Johanna so she would inform Annie, _begged_ her to be gentle about it…

“This is stupid!” Artemis finally erupts. Haymitch has been waiting for it for a while and it has been creeping on his nerves. “We should…”

“We should what?” he cuts him off, his eyes glued to the screens. “Drop everything and charge on a battlefield? Go try to get Effie and hope we stumble on the kids on the way?”

Lucie climbs on his shoulder, wraps her tail around his neck… A silent warning that they are all tired and anxious, he knows.

“Yes! _That_!” the tiger huffs.

“I ain’t sixteen. You want that kind of stupid theatrics, you should have tried your luck with the girl.” he snaps. He’s angry. Probably because he’s been entertaining that very thought since they’ve arrived. “We won’t last two streets out there.”

“Perhaps _you_ won’t.” Artemis sneers. “ _I_ am going to rescue my…”

“You’re going to sit your ass down and stop yapping so I can focus on this _fucking_ useless footage.” he spits out.

Artemis lets out a low growl, showing fangs…

“Oh, _shut up_!” Lucie retorts. “You leave, the rebels are gonna shoot you. Best case scenario, you take a bullet. Worst case scenario, you trigger one of these _fucking_ traps in one of the streets. Either way you’re dead and you’re taking Effie down with you. Stop being a selfish brat and sit down.”

Artemis gaps at her for a long, long time and then he eventually does sit down.

“You are right, of course…” he admits after a while. “It is just… She is _so_ close…”

Haymitch takes his grey eyes off the screens to study the tiger. “Can you feel her?”

A tentative hope is fluttering in his chest.

Artemis doesn’t answer at once, maybe he’s trying to figure out the answer to that question. “I think so. I might be imagining it. It is all very… muddy.”

“Well…” Haymitch sighs, focusing back on the screens. He still blindly reaches out until he can rub the back of the tiger’s neck. “Hang on, alright? Not long to wait now.”

_Hopefully_.

OOO

Artemis doesn’t like the fact Haymitch is exiled from the Command tent.

Things are happening, bad things, he can feel it. Every time he meets Lucie’s eyes, he knows she can feel it too.

He has troubles being patient too.

He’s not sure if he feels Effie or not but ever since they landed, there is an insistent tug around his heart. It’s painful and it throbs when he ignores it. It’s not quite like when he went out of range before but it’s slightly similar and every time he tries to feel around the ache that Effie’s absence left, the same darkness and sense of loss envelop him so quickly he’s now pretty sure it _is_ Effie. So the bond isn’t _entirely_ severed. He _hopes_.

“Here!” Lucie shouts suddenly. “I have Hawthorne! Here!”

Gale Hawthorne’s face is indeed on one of the monitors and everyone in the tent gathers to look at the other screens, searching the crowd…

“Where are you?” Haymitch keeps muttering. “Where are you, sweetheart?”

Artemis is the first to spot her.

“Here!” he roars.

And it’s her. Katniss. Battled worn but otherwise apparently alright.

“Tell Command we need an emergency extraction _at_ _once_.” Haymitch orders one of the soldiers.

“She’s going for the Presidential Mansion.” Lucie warns.

“Where is Peeta?” Artemis asks, leaning his front paws on the monitor to better look at the screens. 

Haymitch ends up shaking his head. “I don’t think he’s there.”

Artemis’ heart sinks in his chest. “He is alive. He _has_ to be.”

“Don’t see Cressida either.” Haymitch remarks. “Maybe they split.”

“Maybe they’re hiding somewhere while Katniss and Hawthorne try to bring down the government.” Lucie mocks.

And that does sound like Katniss’ idea of a plan…

They all watch anxiously, waiting for the requested extraction team to do their job, trying not to lose sight of Katniss or of the boy when the crowd shifts and panics…

“What the _fuck_ are they waiting for?” Haymitch shouts at one of the soldiers who quickly jogs to Command to see what the hold-up is.

Meanwhile Katniss has arrived on the City Circle where hundreds of children are massed around the Presidential Mansion.

Artemis feels sick when he understands why they are there. Talk about a human shield.

“Haymitch, I don’t like this.” Lucie whimpers, her tail flicking behind her. Artemis presses harder against his side, watching the hundred of shifting daemons huddling with their respective little human…

An hovercraft with a Capitol seal passes overhead… Silver parachutes rain down…

“Oh, _fuck_ …” Haymitch whispers. “ _Fuck, fuck, fuck_ … Get me Katniss out of there _now_!”

Artemis doesn’t understand why Haymitch is suddenly on his feet, not until the parachutes starts detonating.

Then he cannot, _doesn’t want_ to look. He knows the Capitol is cruel but to _this_ degree?

Lucie’s head is burrowed against Haymitch’s neck as if, she too, cannot bear to watch.

There’s a lull after the last explosion.

Haymitch is staring at the screens, searching… Suddenly, he lets out a long breath and Artemis spots her too. Katniss looks worse for the wear, a little singed, but she’s alive.

And that’s when the rebel medics arrive on scene.

“No.” Artemis whines. “ _No_.”

Haymitch looks down at him with a frown before following his gaze to one of the screens.

Prim and her goat are amongst the medics.

Does Katniss see her?

Artemis isn’t sure until she starts running toward her sister.

On the screen, Prim turns and then…

OOO

Haymitch drops back down on his chair, heart racing, ears ringing…

The images are seared on his eyelids.

He rubs his mouth but it doesn’t help the nausea, the dizziness…

The grief, he knows, will come later. Once he’s _processed_. For now…

He shoots out of his chair, leaving both daemons behind to catch up and heads straight to Command. He’s vaguely aware Lucie is completely stunned and has fallen off his shoulder at some point, he’s vaguely aware Artemis tosses her over his back and carries her… Lucie ends up nestling in a very tight ball between the tiger’s shoulder blades.

Artemis looks ready to _murder_ someone.

Haymitch shoves aside the soldier who tries to stop him from entering the tent.

Plutarch is agitated, Beetee looks furious but Coin reigns supreme, not even a trace of regret on her face.

Yes, Haymitch decides grimly, that woman has to die soon.

He doesn’t bother asking them why Katniss hasn’t been evacuated earlier or why Prim has been deployed somewhere she had no business being. He understood the moment he saw the kid. He’s been there for exactly _one_ of the Hummingbird Operation briefings. He’s expressed his disgust in such terms he’s never been invited to join again – he didn’t think there had been more briefings, in truth. But he saw Prim and he understood and he wonders how Hawthorne will live with the fact his idea killed his best friend’s sister.

If Hawthorne even survived the blast.

“I want an evac team with medics on the City Circle _now_.” he orders, staring straight at Coin.

“The evac team is on its way.” the President answers evenly. “The situation is… _unfortunate_.”

“That’s one word for it.” Artemis growls.

“I have words from the Presidential Mansion.” Plutarch cuts in, clutching a phone in his hand. “They are officially surrendering.”

There are no cheers, none of the festive mood one could expect after just winning the war…

“Great.” Haymitch deadpans. “Then the Mansion’s hospital is ours. I want Katniss transferred there as soon as possible.”

“Assuming she’s alive.” Coin’s hyena pips up.

“You should _pray_ she is alive.” Artemis warns.

“Is that a threat I hear from _your esccort_ ’s daemon, Abernathy?” Coin challenges.

“Right now, he’s _my_ daemon.” Haymitch scowls. “And I don’t think you’ve got much leverage so I’d shut your mouth if I were you.” 

Haymitch knows enough to make her life difficult.

“We have Katniss.” Plutarch says suddenly, still on the phone. “She is badly injured but alive. They are taking her to the Mansion.”

“Arrange a car for us.” Haymitch orders. “We’re going ahead. And get her mother there as soon as you can.”

He waits for an objection from Coin but it doesn’t come so he storms out of the tent and laments the fact there is no alcohol in sight.

“You shouldn’t have threatened her.” Lucie admonishes in the car. “That was stupid.”

It’s the first words she’s spoken since the explosion and Haymitch knows she’s right. Actually, he keeps waiting for the car to take a wrong turn and go straight into one of the Capitol’s traps. An accidental death. Clean and simple.

“I’m gonna have to tell Aster her daughter’s dead.” he flat out says.

Artemis leans his head on his lap.

Lucie wraps herself around his neck.

OOO

It takes hours for Mrs Everdeen to get to the Mansion’s hospital.

Hours Artemis, Lucie and Haymitch spend pacing in the corridor while doctors try to save the Mockingjay’s life.

Elsewhere in the Mansion, Coin and the rebels are taking over everything.

Hawthorne shows up at some point, bandages pocking out of his shirt, disheveled and with the face of someone who hasn’t slept in days. His hawk daemon is barely managing to remain upright on his shoulder.

“I told them where to find the rest of the squad.” the boy declares. “Is it true what they say?”

“It’s true.” Haymitch simply answers.

Hawthorne nods his understanding and then collapses on a chair, elbows on his knees and hands covering his face.

They all pretend they don’t know he’s crying.

One of the doctor updates them on Katniss’ condition just before Aster Everdeen finally comes rushing in. Haymitch is quick to sum up what he’s been told so far. It’s touch and go still, Katniss is badly burned, they’ve put her in a regenerative tank and there will have to be skin grafts. Artemis adds that she’s in the best hands possible and that she is strong and will probably make a swift recovery.

Aster is crying in relief.

It’s worse in a way to see her so relieved because then Haymitch is helping her to a chair and crouches in front of her.

He explains about Prim softly, _plainly_ …

The woman is still shaking her head _no_ long after he’s done talking.

He holds her afterwards and Artemis is helpless to do anything but keep pacing, fighting the pain in his chest. Not all the pain comes from being separated from Effie.

He’s still wearing the frayed golden string around his neck and he cannot stop thinking about Prim’s smile and how desperate she was to help everyone around her to the best of her abilities. He loves that kid and now she’s gone.

OOO

“The Training Center is _right_ _here_.” Artemis pleads and Haymitch has to swallow and reminds himself why it would be a terrible idea to sneak out and run ahead.

“They’re murdering Capitols in the streets. It’s a bloodbath out here.” Lucie reminds him. “And the rebels are still clearing the Center. We have to wait.”

“Not long.” Haymitch amends. “A couple of hours.”

Artemis flops down at his feet, breathing hard.

Haymitch knows it’s torture for the daemon to ask him to wait.

_Hell_ , it’s torture for him too.

After telling Aster about Prim… The only thing he wants is find Effie and hold her, breathe her in, feel her heart under his palm…

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Well, I didn't think I could hurt myself more but writing Haymitch having to tell Aster about Prim was a new fresh hell. XD Coin is going to be a prooooblem. Are you ready for the soulmate squad to go get Effie? Let me know your thoughts!


	17. Co-Dependency

In the end, it takes more than a couple of hours of waiting, it takes almost a whole day.

When they finally get the green light, Artemis bounces ahead, guided by something far much stronger than Plutarch’s directions. He leaves the two men behind him as soon as they’re in the lobby, impatiently waits for one of them to push the right button in the secret elevator behind the Peacekeepers station…

He knows immediately they’re on the right floor when the elevator opens on a white sterilized world that smells like bleach and terror.

It gives him pause for a moment, terrifying memories flashing back in his mind…

“I’m here.” Haymitch reminds him, briefly coiling his hand around his nape. “Where to?”

Artemis isn’t sure suddenly.

Can he really sense Effie or is it all in his head? Everything is upside down in this place. Everything…

“Through here, sir.” one of the rebel soldiers helpfully points at one corridor.

Artemis starts running.

He’s glad that Haymitch is running with him even though the human can’t hope to match his tiger’s speed.

He follows the tug in his heart, hoping against all hope it’s not his imagination…

He ends up in another corridor full of padded cells… There are medics and soldiers everywhere, looking both disgusted and full of pity, unsure what to do…

Artemis doesn’t realize he stopped until Haymitch catches up, out of breath. Lucie jumps from his shoulder to the tiger’s back.

“Don’t run off like that without me! Haymitch can’t keep up!” she chides. “Where is she? Do you feel her?”

Uncertain, he takes one step forward and then another… He doesn’t glance in any of the cells but he knows Lucie and Haymitch do. He hears them cursing at the sight of half mad daemons desperate to cuddle with anything warm and alive and of people staring into nothing. Some of the people are more coherent than others but, then again, not everyone has as much soul.

He finds Effie in one of the last cells and the tugging sensation finally recedes.

The pain doesn’t abate though…

Not even when he runs straight at her and lies down on top of her…

She’s sitting against the wall, her hair loose and tangled, her gaze unfocused…

She doesn’t react when Artemis lowers himself on her, nuzzles her chest, her neck… He screams then. He screams because he can feel her and he _can’t_. She’s here but she’s _not_.

“Hey.” Haymitch’s hands find his fur, rub it. “Hey… Easy. _Easy_ , kitty. Give her a minute, yeah? Give her a minute…”

But Haymitch doesn’t understand, _can’t_ understand…

Artemis knows she should be clearer now, that the hole in his chest should be filled with her, that the pain should be gone…

And none of that happens.

_None_ of that.

“Sweetheart, can you hear me?” Haymitch coaxes gently, letting go of his fur to frame her face in his hands. “Sweetheart, it’s me. I’m here. Can you hear me? Come on… _Come on_ , I’ve had the worst day… Give me something. Give me _something_.” His thumbs run circles on his cheeks and Artemis feels a stab of burning jealousy when her eyes shift from the wall to him, make an effort to focus… Haymitch’s smile is one of the most genuine Artemis ever saw. “Yeah… Yeah, that’s it. That’s it… Here you are… Here you _fucking_ are…”

Haymitch leans down to press his forehead against hers but Artemis stubbornly refuses to move from her lap so he ends up squashed between them. It’s not the worst place to be.

“Lan… guage.” she croaks out.

Haymitch laughs then.

He laughs so hard tears run down his cheeks and he finally leans back. He keeps one hand on her face but brushes her hair back with the other. “Can you feel Artemis?” She blinks as if the question doesn’t make any sense. “Sweetheart, can you feel your daemon?”

Artemis waits, butts his head against her chest…

Her fingers find his nape and his whole body _shatters_ … All the pain and anguish and terror… It leaves him boneless, unable to pick himself up, unable to do anything…

He doesn’t know what happens next because it all fades to black.

OOO

Haymitch hates having to choose between carrying Effie and carrying Artemis.

He wants to grab her and never let go.

There’s no way he’s letting anyone else touch her tiger though so he watches as they carry her away on a stretcher, struggling to keep his hold on the giant tiger he hauled over his shoulders.

People give the vixen lying on Effie’s stomach awkward looks.

_Fuck_ them all.

He will leave a piece of him with her at all times now.

He’s never losing her again. 

OOO

Effie opens her eyes and she expects pain but pain doesn’t come.

There’s something clouding her mind, something almost pleasant. It’s not the pit of despair she’s been lost in for what feels like forever but it’s…

“Take it easy, sweetheart.”

Fingers wrap around hers and the voice jolts _something_ in her…

_Haymitch._

_Haymitch._

_Haymitch._

She tries to open her eyes but her eyelids keep fluttering shut.

She tries to reach for him, to pull him closer…

“Hold me…”

She’s not sure how much sense the words make. They come out slurred and unsure.

Immediately, she feels a hand on her face, in her hair…

“Can’t, Princess…” His voice is soft but raw. “Turns out hospital beds ain’t made for tiger daemons. It’s already a tight fit.”

_Tiger daemons_.

_Daemons._

There’s something she forgot. Something important. Something…

“Need you.” she rasps out.

“You need the kitty more than you need me, right now.” he objects. “Doctor’s orders.”

She’s lying on her side, she realizes slowly. She’s lying on her side and there’s something warm lying behind her. Something warm and furry. Something that belongs to her? Something that _is_ a part of her?

She doesn’t remember.

She doesn’t remember but the moment she thinks about kicking it out to make room for Haymitch some sort of phantom pain blooms in her chest. No. No, she can’t let it go again. She can’t. She won’t survive it.

But Haymitch…

“Need you both…” she mumbles.

She’s annoyed her eyes won’t open. Annoyed she can’t see…

And suddenly Haymitch is here but he isn’t Haymitch shaped. There’s a ball of warmth and love and tenderness nestling against her chest, sending jolts of electricity all over her body, a pleasant hum of feelings.

“We love you.” a voice says. A vixen’s voice.

What is it she forgot?

_Daemons._

It’s important.

What’s a daemon?

“Artemis…” she finally breathes out, like it’s the answer to the question.

“He’s right here, Effie.” Haymitch promises. “Everything’s fine. We’ve got you now.”

The sob starts in her chest but she chokes on it. “Miss him…”

“He’s right here.” Haymitch repeats patiently.

“ Miss him…” she insists, wrapping her arms around the vixen…

She hears him suck in a breath but then she loses the fight against sleep and everything fades away again.

OOO

Haymitch eyes the drip full of painkiller stuff a little longer each day Effie spends in a drugged trance.

It kills him every time she wakes up and begs for her daemon or for him to hold her, apparently not quite knowing where she is or _who_ she is or what a daemon even is…

It kills him when he has to leave her to go check on the kids, even if it’s just a few hours at a time.

It kills him to see Artemis so gloomy and depressed. The tiger hasn’t said a word to him since he woke up. He spends his whole time lying on the bed next to Effie, watching her, waiting for her to finally…

“They’re decreasing the dose of painkiller.” Haymitch tells him. “It’s gonna help.”

It’s a reflex to reach for the daemon’s neck, to offer comfort, but Artemis flinches and Haymitch takes his hand back before it makes contact.

He’s refused any contact ever since they got Effie back and Haymitch feels weird about it. He spent weeks tied to the tiger and now…

“Can _I_ touch you?” Lucie asks softly because she misses him too.

It feels weird to wander away without the other daemon, weird not to see his white mass wrapped around the red fur of his vixen…

Artemis doesn’t answer, doesn’t even make a gesture proving he understood the question.

Haymitch is worried sick.

He pets Effie’s hair because he cannot pet her daemon’s fur and he waits.

The doctors seem confident the bond between her and her daemon isn’t broken, simply… _stretched_. They’ve read everything about the experiments, about the machine, about the doctors’ conclusions…

It’s not an exact science because Effie and Artemis are the first to be able to be so far away from each other without suffering extreme brain damage. The working theory is that it’s extremely lucky Haymitch already touched her daemon before the experiment took place, that it allowed a temporary alternative bond to take place…

He asked them if it’s alright for Lucie to touch Effie although he’s not sure a negative answer would have stopped the vixen, not when Effie was begging for them to hold her… The doctors didn’t see why it would be a problem.

It’s starting to dawn on Haymitch the doctors have no clue how to help her and are just hoping for the best.

OOO

One day, Effie manages to keep her eyes open for more than a few seconds.

She wants Haymitch but he’s not in the room.

Something tenses next to her though and next thing she knows there’s a huge tiger’s head looming over her, watching her.

“Do you remember me?” the tiger asks.

_Not a tiger_ , a voice whispers at the back of her mind, _a daemon._

_Her_ daemon _._

The feeling of possessiveness is fierce and almost cuts her breath off.

But she doesn’t feel him.

She knows she should but she doesn’t.

“I miss you.” is all that comes out. “I miss you. I miss you. I miss you.”

She starts crying. 

The tiger lies down on top of her, crushing her, screaming his own grief…

She still doesn’t feel him.

She keeps on missing him.

OOO

“It’s gonna be alright.” Haymitch promises even though it’s an empty wish and they both know it.

Effie is propped against the pillows, Artemis draped over her lap, ears low and tail hanging from the bed, and she’s staring at the wall with a dazed look.

“You hear me, sweetheart?” he insists. “It’s just a matter of time. The bond’s gonna…”

He doesn’t notice Lucie wandering on the bed until Effie flinches. “Please, don’t touch us.”

The rejection stings.

It stings all the more so that Haymitch and Lucie have been feeling bereft without them.

OOO

Every day the doctors test their range.

Artemis plays along because feeling the lack of _connection_ to Effie when he’s been wrapped around her for days is sometimes unbearable.

The first week, he walks straight out of the Mansion. He could have gone further despite the pain.

The second week, he follows a weird instinct and finds Haymitch sitting on the floor of Katniss’ hospital room, watching the girl float in the tank. He’s tired of the pain and the numbness and the darkness that swallows him from inside his mind. He collapses next to the victor and crawls on his lap until Lucie nestles against his belly and Haymitch pets his fur. When he eventually makes his way back to Effie’s room, she’s looking at him funny.

The third week, he feels a slashing pain somewhere near the conservatory.

He comes back to the room and finds Haymitch smirking, his grey eyes twinkling with joy.

“See? The range’s coming back.” the man laughs.

Effie is rubbing her chest, over her heart. When Artemis hops on the bed, she wraps his arms around him and buries her face in his fur.

“I felt you.” she whispers.

“I felt you too.” he murmurs lovingly.

He doesn’t feel her now.

But at least it’s something.

OOO

The daemon problem isn’t Effie’s only problem.

She has night terrors that leave her screaming and trembling. After three weeks in the hospital, she refuses to sleep unless Haymitch is in the room. It takes some maneuvering but they finally figure out a system where he can hold her on the bed with Artemis lying across their legs.

The tiger doesn’t object to Haymitch touching him any longer and Effie is only happy when Lucie is within reach.

The doctors are less happy about it than they used to be. They’re muttering about co-dependency and warning Haymitch all day long that it’s not a good thing and he wants to listen, he _wants_ to, but he’s desperate to feel them just as much as they’re desperate to be hold by Lucie and him.

One night, Effie wakes up screaming and doesn’t stop.

“It burns!” she yells. Her eyes are wide and her breath is short. “It burns! It burns! It burns!”

Haymitch is already shouting for a doctor or a nurse when Artemis suddenly starts whining…

“ _Shit_ …” Lucie hisses, standing on the pillow, not sure how to help. “What’s happening?”

The doctors are just as helpless and end up sedating them.

The next day, Artemis cannot leave the hospital wing without feeling the sharp pain that means he’s stretching their range and Effie cannot shut up about the machine and how it burned – not like fire but like ice. She babbles incoherently about it until Haymitch climbs on the bed and holds her tight.

She buries her face in his chest and tangles their legs and finally, _finally_ stops shaking.

“Never leave me again.” she begs.

She’s not talking to him, he knows, but they’ve been playing musical daemons for so long it’s getting difficult to know who is what to whom.

He doesn’t like leaving Effie and Artemis anymore. He’s never liked it but it’s becoming physically painful. Lucie never said anything but he knows she feels it too.

“Never.” Artemis promises, crawling on top of them.

It’s uncomfortable, particularly when Lucie snuggles against the tiger.

It’s uncomfortable but Haymitch wouldn’t exchange it for the world.

They’ve screwed up with their bonds, somehow, but he doesn’t even mind.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Well, they have Effie back and it seems like getting her connection back with artemis isn't hopeless! Now there seems to be a confusion about who belongs to whom but... XD Is that really a problem? What did you think of the soulmate squad this chapter? Let me know your thoughts!


	18. Forever In One Moment

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry I missed yesterday's update my internet decided to break. So we were already going to double post today and monday, now we will double post today, monday AND tuesday. So, don't miss today's Katniss the vampire slayer and don't forget Hayffie Summer Week starts tomorrow (or tonight at 12 european time) so look out for the one shots that are coming your way!

Artemis tells Effie everything that happened when he was away from her.

There are tears at the news of their friends’ death.

There are more tears when he tells her just how Haymitch has taken care of him.

He thinks a part of her – or them – resented Haymitch for everything that happened to them but once he recounts everything for her… They cannot be angry. Not when everything is laid bared. Not when it’s obvious he and Lucie love them so much. Not when Haymitch proved it every day for weeks. Not when they can feel it every time he touches the victor or Effie touches Lucie.

OOO

Haymitch takes exactly _one_ step in Effie’s hospital room and he knows there’s mischief brewing.

It’s all over Artemis’ smug attitude and the spark in her blue eyes.

“What?” he scoffs, scooping up Lucie from the floor to give himself something to do. If he’s honest, it’s good to see her like that, with her eyes twinkling, after the weeks of anxiety and staring into nothingness.

He’s relieved too. Relieved she can still feel happiness or act teasing, relieved she’s starting to feel Artemis more, relieved she doesn’t _hate_ him… 

“Nothing.” She pats the edge of the mattress in invitation.

It looks like a trap but he’s helpless to resist. He wants to sit next to her. He wants to _feel_ her. He and Lucie hate it when they have to leave her and the kitty. It’s a little confusing how much they need them. They can survive on their own, of course, but it’s painful and lonely and they miss them too much.

“So…” she says and her smile is blinding, just like it used to be. “I hear we are engaged?”

He groans.

OOO

“They’re releasing the girl from the hospital next week.” Haymitch tells her, playing with the strands of hair that hang limp despite all her attempts at salvaging it with appropriate shampoos and masks.

“Has she talked yet?” she asks, propping herself on an elbow.

It disrupts Artemis and Lucie who are cuddled up together at the foot of the bed and are having their own private conversation. She doesn’t pay them any mind.

“Not a pip.” He sighs. “Look… I don’t like to ask but… If you feel up to it… Ain’t like they’re doing much else than monitoring you here and you and the kitty are doing better so…”

“What is it you want?” she cuts him off with a frown.

“It’d be easier to keep an eye on the girl from my suite without having to make trips to your room. The boy’s out of the hospital too, so…” He winces. “I mean, if you want to get out of here…”

Effie beams with relief. She and Artemis haven’t said anything but it smells too much like in that lab. They hate it. “ _Please_ , yes.”

OOO

It’s not as easy to get Effie released as he hoped it would be and he ends up in Coin’s office, arguing within an inch of his life against a too smug President and her arrogant hyena.

She wants Effie to go on trial like the rest of the escorts, Gamemakers, stylists and other Games staffers. She wants Effie to get executed on live TV.

“You get she’s as good as my wife, yeah?” he snaps. “ _More_ than that even? _Hell_ , how many _fucking_ people do you know who can touch their lover’s daemon? You think Panem’s gonna just _roll_ with your taking out a victor’s wife when there’s so few of us left?”

Maybe he shouldn’t have so readily accused her of having no leverage.

Because to spare Effie he ends up agreeing to keep Katniss in line.

Basically, he’s Coin’s bitch now.

OOO

They’re two days from being released and Effie is sitting cross-legged in the middle of the bed in pajamas that, thankfully, aren’t a hospital gown – because Haymitch finally took a hint and found her appropriate clothes. She’s braiding her hair, Artemis’ head resting on her lap, Lucie curled up on top of him… Haymitch is doing crosswords and unconsciously jerking his knee every five seconds…

She knows there’s something he hasn’t been telling her, something that has to do with what they call _the Purge_ and all the trials she’s not allowed to watch on TV, but she doesn’t really care because for the last three days she’s been feeling a flutter when there’s only been a void. The hole in her chest is finally _filing_ and if she closes her eyes and tries really hard, she can feel Artemis where he should never have gone away.

It makes her euphoric.

And she likes this: a quiet afternoon, just the four of them, daemons cuddling together and Haymitch grumbling about the crosswords she’s never been interested in… After the months of hell, this is _paradise_. 

“I love you.” she tells Haymitch, because she’s in one of these moods. The words feel new on her tongue and she realizes belatedly that it’s the first time she utters them herself. It’s Artemis saying them usually.

“Love you too.” Lucie mumbles sleepily.

Haymitch looks up from his crosswords, meets Effie’s eyes… His smirk is hesitant but genuine. “Yeah.”

It’s not exactly a love declaration but she will take it. She leans toward him and he puts the crosswords aside and her heart is beating so fast because for the many nights and days they spent cuddling lately they’ve never…

There is a brisk knock on the door before it’s yanked open.

They both jerk apart guiltily as if they were doing something _wrong_.

She forgets all about the near kiss when she sees who’s standing there though.

Haymitch tenses, alarmed by the sudden appearance of a Capitol with vivid turquoise hair and the Persian cat that struts in as if he owns the room.

“Mother…” Effie breathes out, shocked to see her.

She knows her parents and her sister survived the war because Haymitch checked but they haven’t reached out to her.

“Euphemia.” Elindra says, her blue eyes sweeping the room, taking in the various mess of jackets and sweaters Haymitch has left on the visitor’s armchair, the vixen snugly lying on top of her daemon, Effie’s pink pajamas and the dark bags under her eyes… “You look terrible.”

“Here’s to me feeling like a stoat any second.” Artemis mutters to Lucie, gently shaking her off.

The vixen leaps on Haymitch’s shoulder and settles there, watching Effie’s mother with barely veiled hostility. 

“Mother, I…” she starts, not quite sure what to say.

“Do you know how _worried_ we were? The stunts you pull, Euphemia, I swear!” her mother starts ranting, her voice harsh and disapproving…

Effie’s eyes burn with unshed tears and she straightens a little, getting ready to endure her mother’s vitriol…

Jilo suddenly breaks out in an undignified run, jumps on the bed and buries against Artemis’ fur.

Effie gasps, unused to the feeling of her mother’s daemon rubbing against hers – and she _feels_ it, she feels it like she hasn’t been able to feel through Artemis in a long, long time. Artemis tenses before suddenly relaxing, accepting the nuzzling and the flicking of his ear in turn… Jilo doesn’t seem to know if he wants to cuddle him or hit him so he’s doing both.

“You will be the death of us!” Elindra’s daemon accuses. “We thought… We thought you were _dead_.”

It is a lot more than her mother would have chosen to reveal, Effie sees at once. Elindra is pursing her lips, uncomfortable with her daemon’s display…

Effie’s never seen Jilo acting like this before and she’s starts crying because…

“You love us, then?” Artemis asks, sounding flabbergasted.

That earns him quite a lot of ear flicking from the Persian cat.

Lucie growls threateningly from Haymitch’s shoulder but Haymitch places a hand on her side to calm her down, maybe understanding it’s not their place to intervene. Even if their tiger is getting abused.

“Do we love you!” Jilo huffs. “Should we shout it like ruffians then? Is _that_ what it would take for you to _not_ put yourself in ridiculous situations? Do we love you! The nerves!”

“ _Quite_.” Elindra snaps, finally crossing the distance to the bed. “What _ever_ did you do to yourself, Euphemia? You look like death warmed over. Oh, _do_ stop crying, will you! Ladies do _not_ cry!” Her blue eyes finally settle on Haymitch and the loathing is plain. “Could we have some privacy?”

He’s reluctant to agree, Effie sees it at once, but he nods. “I’ll go check on the girl.”

“No, stay.” she objects immediately, reaching for his hand. “Please. We need you.”

Lucie immediately leaps from his shoulder to hers and wraps herself around her neck like a living scarf. She startles at the unexpected contact but soon breathes more easily. With Haymitch’s daemon wrapped around her neck, she feels invincible. Safe. Protected. _Loved._

Her mother is staring at her with wide horrified eyes.

Even Jilo has frozen against Artemis.

Effie forgot how shocking it can be to see two people sharing their daemons so openly. All the doctors are used to it – _fascinated_ by it – and there haven’t been a lot more of other visitors. Haymitch told him people are used to seeing him with Artemis by now and she’s certainly grown used to scooping Lucie and cuddling her when she feels the whim. It’s become so _normal_ that she forgot it isn’t done.

“Explain.” Elindra demands. “Now.”

As it turns out, her mother came here to request she uses her sway with the rebels to get Lyssa’s husband pardoned – something, Haymitch is clear on the onset, will _not_ happen because he barely managed to save _her_ ass.

Effie tells her story in bits and pieces sometimes interrupted by sobbing fists. She hates having to tell it again and she suspects her mother wouldn’t have listened at all if Jilo weren’t so determined to stay where he is, snuggled against Artemis. Whatever angry front her mother wants to keep, her daemon is betraying her worry. Jilo lost his composure and by the time Haymitch takes over because Effie cannot talk anymore, Elindra is losing hers.

“I see.” her mother says when they’re done explaining.

She’s watching Haymitch with a blank expression Effie knows only too well. It’s impossible to say what she feels.

The loathing is gone, though, so there’s at least that.

“Thank you.” Jilo says quietly.

He’s talking to the vixen still wrapped around her neck.

Lucie lifts her head from her shoulder to stare down at the cat, tail flicking in irritation. “You should have taken better care of them. We won’t make the same mistake.”

“I certainly hope so.” the cat nods.

Elindra clears her throat. “So you are being released then? Do you need a place to stay?”

“We are staying with Haymitch and Lucie.” Artemis says quickly, before she can even answer. “We are not separating.”

They haven’t separated for more than a couple hours at a time and every time Haymitch has to leave the room, he always looks reluctant. Lucie never even _walks_ out, she always perches on Haymitch’s shoulders and looks back until the very last moment as if she hates every minute of it and strongly considers staying behind. Maybe they could have managed it once but now their range is short, shorter still since the war and everything that happened. Haymitch needs her. He just happens to need Effie and Artemis too.

“Yes. I understood this was a prerequisite.” Elindra huffs, her eyes flicking to Haymitch again. “They are welcomed to stay with us too.”

Haymitch almost gapes at that.

Effie starts crying again, overwhelmed.

“Oh, _do_ hush…” Her mother awkwardly pats her hand. “He is a victor after all. And I understand he is a key player in this rebellion… If this democracy trend sticks… Why, we can put a positive spin on it. It won’t be _that_ terrible to have him in the family.”

Lucie almost chokes and Effie quickly wraps her hand around her snout to prevent her from saying something she doesn’t mean – or _does_ mean.

“Why…” Haymitch sneers because nobody is putting a hand in front of _his_ mouth. “ _Thanks_.”

If Elindra understands he’s mocking her, she doesn’t let on.

“Quite.” her mother deadpans.

OOO

Thankfully, Effie doesn’t take her mother on her offer and they stay in the Mansion.

Haymitch’s suite is big and posh and it’s such a luxury after the Spartan accommodations of Thirteen that he can’t even find any fault in it. When he sees Effie’s face light up the first time she takes a step in it, he’s happy he didn’t make too much of a mess of it yet.

The bed is huge because he expressly demanded a suite with a huge bed on account of him having _two_ daemons, one of them being a giant cat.

“You want to rest?” he frets, dropping her bag on the dresser. “Or I can draw you a bath… Or you want something to eat?”

It’s a bit ridiculous how desperate he is to do something nice for her, to _take care_ of her… Everything that happened to her is his fault and he knows it. They haven’t addressed it yet, probably won’t for a while because their daemons are already tangled together and it’s too peaceful to ruin, but… He wants to take care of her, he wants to erase the hurt, to make it all better…

Effie runs her hand against the midnight blue velvet curtains. “How big is that bathtub?”

“Big enough for you and your kitty.” he snorts.

“So big enough for both of us, then?” Her gin is contagious.

He doesn’t realize he crossed the room until he’s right in front of her, gently tracing the line of her jaw with his fingers. “Don’t toy with a bitter old man…”

“Who says I am toying?” she challenges and leans in.

Nothing interrupts the kiss this time and Haymitch drowns into it. Her lips are soft and warm and just as he remembers them. When he tilts his head, she opens her mouth so he can deepen the kiss and everything is _perfect_.

In that moment, at that second, _everything is perfect_. 

_If he could live forever in one moment it would be this one_ , he thinks.

Her fingers are working on the buttons of his shirt so he forces himself to slow the kiss down, break it into soft pecks… “We don’t have to do anything yet, sweetheart. You’re still recovering. It’s fine. I can wait.”

“Good for you.” She chuckles. “ _I_ can’t. I need to feel you and not through your daemon.”

She tangled her hands in his hair and brings his head back down.

There’s nothing soft or sweet about _this_ kiss.

He wants to be gentle. He wants to take his time. He wants to cradle her and never let go.

It gets wild and rough and it’s over before it really started.

He’s not satisfied with that resolution. He wants her writhing and moaning under him again so he starts kissing every inch of her, relearning her body, cataloguing the new scars… Her back is a mess of white crisscrossing lines. She forgot about them in the whole _missing daemon_ thing, he can tell because she tenses when he starts touching them. He licks every one of them, doesn’t give her time to be self-conscious.

There isn’t an inch of her skin he doesn’t want.

This time, the sex is slower, more fulfilling. They don’t avert their eyes once, their fingers are entwined on the pillow and when he comes, it’s with her name on his tongue…

They’re one.

For a brief moment, they’re one and everything is as it should be and it doesn’t matter how weird their bonds with their daemons have become or even how weird the bond _between them_ has become because they’re one and he loves her and she loves him and, in that moment, it’s all that counts.

OOO

“I want a cigarette…” Effie mumbles.

Her whole body feels heavy and sated. She’s wrapped in Haymitch’s arms, half lying on his chest, their legs tangled together…

“I want a drink.” he counters and it doesn’t sound as playful as he probably means it.

She drops a kiss on his shoulder, another one of his neck, a third one on his stubble-eaten chin, and the last one on his mouth. “You do not _need_ a drink. You have me.”

“Us.” Artemis corrects from somewhere on the bed. It is a _huge_ bed and she’s grateful for it.

“Us.” she confirms with another kiss. “Isn’t that better than liquor?”

“I want to say yes so badly…” he whispers against her lips. His hand drifts down to grope her ass… “But… It’s just been…”

“There’s a decanter of brandy in the living-room.” Lucie pips up. “He hasn’t touched it yet but he hasn’t thrown it away either. He wants it. And as long as it’s here he’s gonna keep wanting it.”

“Lucie.” Haymitch grumbles.

Effie drops another kiss on his lips and straddles him to get out of bed.

Artemis doesn’t bother coming with her. She gets to the living-room without feeling the pull that tells her they’re out of range but she’s not surprised. She carries the decanter to the bathroom under Haymitch’s watchful eyes. She pours it down the sink until the very last drop and then comes back to the bed and the warm body in it.

She snuggles against him once more and he finally relaxes. “Thanks.”

“I will stop smoking.” she decides.

He chuckles, coiling his hand around her nape. “Pretty sure it ain’t the same, sweetheart, but I appreciate the feeling.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So things are getting a liiittle better! Effie feels Artemis! Elindra was betrayed by her daemon! Hayffie smutted it up! Haymitch will stay sober or will he? What do you think? Let me know!


	19. Not Forever

Katniss figures it all out and _shit_ hits the fan.

He’s got a lap full of tiger when the girl barges in because it’s a bad day and he’s craving a drink and the tiger’s idea of helping with that is to bodily prevent him from fetching one. Effie is curled up on the couch, painting her nails a vibrant shade of pink, with Lucie wrapped around her neck.

“Listen to that. The Mockingjay found her voice.” he sneers because he’s unhappy and his hands are shaking and he just wants some _damn_ liquid oblivion that his daemons won’t let him have. “Plutarch’s gonna be happy.”

“I need your help.” the girl says.

“What is it, sweetheart? More boy troubles?” he mocks. Hurt flashes on the girl’s face and he feels like an asshole. “Okay, not funny.” She turns around and runs. “Not funny! Come back!”

By the time he pushed the tiger off to run after her, she’s long gone and Effie is hot in pursuit, calling after her to stop and not listen to him. The thing is, Effie is still recovering and she winds down quickly – and even the small weight of Lucie on her shoulders is enough to slow her down.

Artemis manages to follow longer but eventually loses the trail.

Haymitch is held back by the necessity to remain close to the vixen.

OOO

They spend hours looking for Katniss and when they finally find her, Effie is so angry after Haymitch she doesn’t even care that she’s requested to play escort one last time.

She knows he’s sorry but she has the feeling he’s more sorry for himself than he is for the way he talked to Katniss. He’s struggling with cravings, she understands but still.

“If you drink _one_ single drop, there will be hell to pay.” she hisses.

He rolls her eyes. “You ain’t the boss of me.”

“I beg to differ.” she snaps. “Lucie, if he tries to drink anything with liquor in it I give you permission to claw his face off.”

The vixen nods her understanding, clearly amused.

He grumbles and complains but doesn’t object too much. When she tries to storm away, he grabs her wrist and pulls her back, dropping an hesitant peck on her lips. “You still wanna marry me, yeah?”

It’s actually the first time he asks so plainly and it makes her melt a little. _Just_ a little.

“Behave and we will see.” she huffs.

She clings to her anger and irritation because it’s the only way to ignore the dread and the slightly painful cramps at being away from him. Out of sight.

She focuses on Katniss instead, fusses over the girl until her grey eyes are less dazed and a little more annoyed… An annoyed Katniss is a normal Katniss. Effie prefers it that way.

Even if the way Artemis is wrapped around Pogo and the way Pogo nestled into the soft fur of the tiger’s belly negates any real resentment on the girl’s part.

OOO

He knows he’s playing a risky game when he votes _yes_ to holding a special edition of Hunger Games. Lucie hates it even more, her tail keeps flicking up and down, left and right…

He also knows the girl will understand what he’s really saying _yes_ to.

The way Pogo stares at Lucie when he’s not glaring at the hyena certainly makes him hope she does.

The whole exchange flies over the head of the boy and the golden retriever daemon. Delilah is almost foaming at the mouth and looks like she would like nothing more than taking a bite of the falcon or the vixen. Johanna’s goanna somehow finds her way in between them. Lucie still remains on Haymitch’s shoulder, safe from self-righteous daemons.

He should have know Peeta wouldn’t keep the secret for more than five minutes.

They barely left the room for five minutes before Effie is standing right in front of him, glaring daggers at him with glistening eyes. Artemis, if possible, looks both hurt and threatening. 

“We’ve got a plan.” Lucie soothes her, jumping on her shoulder to rub her head against her cheek. “Trust us.”

Their escort takes a long deep breath and buries her fingers in his daemon’s fur, nuzzling the vixen back. “Do not make me regret it.”

Artemis slowly – _hesitantly –_ crosses the distance between him and Haymitch but willingly leans against his legs when Haymitch grabs the back of his neck. “Risky game.”

“You know why.” he reminds the tiger.

Understanding blooms on Effie’s face at that comment.

“I certainly do.” Artemis hums.

OOO

She knows Coin needs to go.

She doesn’t like that Haymitch uses Katniss to do it.

She feels no satisfaction at seeing the arrow hit Coin’s chest or hearing the surprise gasp of the hyena before it burst into golden dust. She’s seen enough death for a lifetime.

It’s chaos after that.

Artemis tries to shield her as they fight their way back inside but it’s pointless.

It’s _chaos._

People are trampling on each other, stomping on each other’s daemons…

A rebel soldier makes a grab for her and she screams but instead of shooting her or hurting her, he simply drags her back to safety, his bobcat daemon circling around them to make room, soon seconded by Artemis.

She figures Artemis knows them from his time in Thirteen. 

OOO

Plutarch is reasonably certain they will get Katniss acquitted during the trial on account of her being so heavily drugged with morphling alone.

It takes weeks for a judge to be found in the confusion and a jury to be selected, weeks that they use to sever Katniss from her addiction to morphling. Haymitch hates that they have to leave her trapped by herself in her penthouse’ room but she’s closely monitored and the doctors insist it’s the best way.

He doesn’t tell Effie Katniss tried to kill herself. She’s already worrying too much about the girl as it is and with Peeta being sent to a clinic in the outskirt of the city to better learn how to master his episodes, she’s left without anyone else to fuss over. 

OOO

They spend the weeks leading up to Katniss’ trial switching places.

They can’t stay at the Mansion after Paylor is elected and Effie knows it hurts Haymitch to be so casually ejected from a government he helped build.

They stay at Plutarch’s for a few days but it is _not_ working out. First, because Fulvia lives here and she and Effie dislike each other as soon as they’re introduced. Then, because the bed in the guestroom is _barely_ big enough for the two of them plus their daemons. And, finally, because they’re too loud and the first time Plutarch politely hints at it at breakfast, Effie is set on moving out.

They spent two days at her parents with Haymitch dragging his feet all the way through. Her mother makes an effort, her sister will not talk to her and her father is too busy keeping the business afloat to pay them any attention.

Haymitch suggests they rent a place somewhere.

They end up in her ransacked apartment. It’s not the safest place – or the warmest because a few windows have been broken – and most of her valuables are gone.

They board up the windows until someone can come and replace them, Haymitch changes the broken locks on the door and they make it home.

Living with him is easier than she ever thought it would be.

She never quite gets used to the thrill that runs down her spine every time he casually touches Artemis. She loves it. She loves the dazed look he turns to her every time she pets Lucie too. They’re finally finding some sort of balance back with their daemons. Time is proving the doctors right, she can feel Artemis more and more each day, the range is shortening… She still likes having Lucie within reach but the urge to have her close is less debilitating… It’s a pleasure but not a necessity now.

They’re happy despite everything. At least, she thinks so.

OOO

They make a deal with the judge because it’s the easiest way to go.

Katniss will be declared of unsound mind and released into her mother’s custody until the court is satisfied she won’t be a threat to herself or others again.

Haymitch actually whirls Effie around when he comes home after they made that deal. It’s all worked out. They all agreed. They will wait for the clinic to declare Peeta is able to live by himself again, for Annie to have her baby, and then they will all move to Four together. Even Jo agreed to come – to keep an eye on Annie and the baby in Finnick’s stead.

She lets out peals of laughter and tells him she wants a house that gives directly on the beach.

He’s so happy he tells her he will give her anything she wants and the moon on top of it.

Artemis doesn’t let him forget it for the next three hours.

The tiger is still mocking him when Lucie’s head jerks up.

“There is someone at the door.” she warns.

When Haymitch opens the door, there is no one there, just two letters on the doormat, one addressed to him and one addressed to Katniss.

OOO

Effie tempests and rages for a whole hour with Artemis seconding her rant.

Haymitch is still sitting on the couch, the letter dangling from his fingers, looking absolutely unsurprised, as if he always knew Aster Everdeen would bolt.

All the happiness is gone and that, more than the rest, makes Effie livid.

Or perhaps it is the fact that woman abandoned a child Effie would kill and die for.

OOO

Haymitch volunteers to take Katniss’ custody. He’s the only one who gets the joke.

Effie would have, he thinks, but she’s not been allowed in the courthouse.

The judge isn’t impressed with the fleeing mother and agrees to release Katniss under Haymitch’s guardianship on the condition they both pack their bags for Twelve and stay there. Out of sight, out of mind.

The other option is a life sentence in a psychiatric facility.

Haymitch takes the deal.

OOO

Effie made sure her eyes wouldn’t be reddish when Haymitch comes home. She’s followed the trial’s results on TV, she knows what happened. She knows what will happen now.

For a long time, they just stare at each other.

And then Artemis and Lucie move toward each other and just snuggle on the floor between them.

Effie doesn’t dare speak.

There’s a lump in her throat and she knows she will only end up crying.

“We’re leaving tomorrow morning.” he says eventually, tossing the keys on the kitchen counter. “There’s room for you.”

She swallows hard, tries to keep her voice even. “Peeta.”

Haymitch closes his eyes and rubs his face. “Yeah. Knew you would say that.”

Effie is feeling frail and vulnerable like she hasn’t felt since the aftermath or the Quell. The whole country will be between them again and last time…

Artemis won’t be going with Haymitch.

Lucie won’t stay with her.

She’s sure he thought about that option too but it’s not how it works, not anymore. They won’t have any connection to each other.

“Marry me.” she breathes out. “Tonight. Marry me.”

He watches her as if she’s crazy for a moment and then he licks his lips and nods.

OOO

There’s a fake fireplace in her living-room.

He opens the window so they won’t suffocate and lights a fire that makes far too much smoke. They toast bread and feed pieces of it to each other until the fire alarm starts ringing.

It’s probably the worst toasting in the history of Twelve’s traditional weddings but when she laughs as he tries to reach the _fucking_ alarm with the end of a broom, something uncoils in his stomach and he knows they will be alright.

OOO

It’s too chilly to lie naked in the living-room with the window open to clear out the smoke. Effie burrows against Haymitch’s chest, glad for Artemis’ fur at her back.

Haymitch’s skin is as sweaty as hers is and Lucie is grumbling about it.

“You won’t drink, will you?” she whispers. “I know I am asking a lot…”

“Lucie’s gonna keep me on the straight and narrow.” he promises.

“I will bite him every time he only _thinks_ about buying liquor.” his daemon chuckles. “It’s gonna be fun.”

She nudges the vixen’s paw, feeling Haymitch’s body seize next to her at the contact and then relax into bliss. “Do not bite him. Remind him he has us and we will all be back together soon.”

“Yeah…” Lucie sighs, content. “That should do the trick too.”

OOO

Haymitch has his golden bangle but he wishes he had something to leave her with and there’s no time to buy a ring…

He doesn’t say it out loud but Artemis developed an uncanny skill for reading his mind. He paddles out of the living-room, ignoring Effie’s complains about being cold without her daemon, and comes back with a frayed piece of golden tinsel.

The tiger is wearing proper bowties again but it makes Haymitch feel good that he kept the ridiculous piece of string. In part because it’s Prim who found it for him and he misses the kid.

He carefully wraps the golden tinsel around Effie’s ring finger and knots it with an awkward bow.

“I’m gonna get you a real ring.” he mutters.

“Diamond.” Artemis reminds him. “Pear-shaped…”

“You keep yapping and it’s gonna be plastic and kitty-shaped.” Lucie retorts. “Can’t you tell they’re having a moment?”

Haymitch ignores the daemons’ bickering, he leans down to kiss her and soon the sound of their voices fade away to the softness of her skin.

OOO

“It’s not forever.” Artemis reminds her when Haymitch leaves the apartment the next morning, before the sun even rises.

She knows it’s not forever.

But it feels like it.

And it’s terrible.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> They're apaaaart again but the hyena burst so it's at least something XD What did you think? 
> 
> Tomorrow will be the last chapter and today starts hayffie week! Don't miss on the fun and look out for a new one shot!


	20. Worse Fates

Haymitch doesn’t really expect Katniss to be grateful that he’s sacrificing what’s left of his life for her so he’s not shocked at her utter lack of surprise when he comes to fetch her. Then again, maybe she knows her mother that much better than he does.

Or she doesn’t care one way or another.

Lucie tries to engage Pogo in a conversation but the falcon daemon can’t manage to string more than three words together before nestling on Katniss’ shoulder. He’s scarred and lost quite a few feathers. He’s not a beautiful hunting bird anymore.

“Do you want to know who else won’t be there?” Haymitch taunts.

Katniss clearly doesn’t.

She doesn’t ask after Peeta and she doesn’t ask after Effie.

OOO

Effie fills her days with visits to Peeta, medical appointments for her and Artemis’ problem and the occasional lunch with her mother.

Elindra is trying and she is too but a chiasm of thirty-five years cannot be erased just because one of them almost died at the end of a tyrannical empire. It’s a work in progress that often leaves Artemis feeling like a stoat despite everyone’s best intentions.

The fact that she does not feel _whole_ do not help.

She misses Haymitch like she used to miss her daemon before the bond settled back into something flexible but a little more normal.

She misses him like _air_.

Being away from him and Lucie is so painful that she and Artemis often sit in their apartment and stare at the walls for hours, huddling together for warmth and comfort.

OOO

Haymitch is intimately acquainted with grief and he knows very well what the loss of her sister is making Katniss feel.

Still, after two weeks of her vegetating on her couch, he’s _that_ close to hosing her down just to make the smell a little less pungent.

Effie calls every day and every day he promises her he will try harder to lull the girl out of her dark mood but even her singed daemon falcon refuses to answer to Lucie’s pleas. 

He almost drinks a hundred times.

He misses Effie.

He misses her like air.

Being away from her and Artemis is so painful he and Lucie often sit on the porch and stare at the sky for hours, huddling together for warmth and comfort.

OOO

One morning, Artemis stops ten feet away from her, breathing hard.

Effie feels it too. The familiar painful pull of a tug in her chest.

Ten feet.

It’s not quite the range they used to have but it’s _average_.

She weeps for two hours.

She’s still teary when Peeta tells her, a few hours later, that he has good news.

OOO

Winter turns into spring and, for lack of something else to do, Haymitch tackles the overgrown backyard full of weeds.

It’s not quite an innocent thought. There are wild geese hanging around nearby and he’s seen them twice trying to nest in the mess before giving up and dawdling away. He sort of wants the birds to stay. They remind him of his brother’s daemon.

So he’s on his knees in the dirt, tearing up thistles and couch grass with his bare hands – and rethinking the cleverness of that faced with Lucie’s smartass gibes – when something heavy pounces on him from behind, making him fall face first into a bed of weeds.

He fends off the attack instinctively, shoving the weight off and rolling on his back…

It’s all he has time to do before his body seizes with a mix of lust and love. Then there’s a raspy tongue licking his face and a loud familiar purring sound. And let’s not forget the five hundred pounds tiger crushing his chest…

His body is jolting with waves of electricity and, when he glances past the white tiger, he understands why. Effie has Lucie in her arms, the vixen nuzzling her neck, nipping at the soft skin…

He doesn’t register the pink trench coat or the matching suitcases behind her… All he sees is _her_.

He doesn’t remember pushing the tiger off and he doesn’t remember how they get from him on his back to the two of them kissing aggressively…

They keep kissing as he backs her up toward the house…

They keep kissing as Artemis and Lucie joyfully greet each other… There’s a lot of snouts licking on their part and it only feeds the desire Haymitch’s feeling…

“Missed you.” Effie mumbles between two kisses. “Missed you…”

He doesn’t know how she manages a thought _that_ coherent. The touch of her daemon after weeks of being deprived of it turned his mind into soup, only his body’s need is important and he needs _hers_.

He’s not happy until her coat and her dress are gone.

He doesn’t know at what point she got him naked.

He tries to steer her toward the stairs but they don’t even make it there.

They end up _fucking_ each other on the floor, in the hall, like animals in heat.

OOO

Effie makes Haymitch carry her to the couch, too tired to even try to pick herself off the floor.

Their daemons are curled up together on an old armchair, wearing matching mocking expressions.

“And there we went and bought a new bed just for the two of you…” Lucie teases.

“A new bed?” Effie hums.

“A huge one.” Haymitch mutters, rearranging their limbs until they can both fit on the couch. She ends up sprawled on his chest but she’s not complaining. “Takes more than half the wall. Ordered it. They told me it was the biggest they had.”

“If I didn’t know better I would think you want me far away from you at night, darling.” Artemis taunts.

Haymitch makes a face and tosses her daemon a look. “Don’t pet name me, kitty.”

“But you are _so_ cute when you look _that_ crossed.” Artemis chuckles.

Effie distracts him from her daemon’s facetious nature by kissing him. It works well enough for a few minutes.

“You’re here to stay, yeah?” he asks, suddenly sounding desperate.

“Well, you bought a bed…” she hums. “ _And_ we are married so…”

“No jokes. Not right now, sweetheart.” Haymitch cuts her off.

“We want you to stay…” Lucie begs, nuzzling Artemis’ neck. “We need you to stay. We missed you. We _love_ you.”

“We love you too.” her daemon answers with a long contented sigh. “ _Of course_ , we are here to stay. We _missed_ you. So much. It was _torture_.”

“Torture.” she echoes.

Haymitch kisses the word from her lips.

“Peeta?” he asks.

“He went home but if you want my opinion he will be at Katniss’ before the day is over.” she answers. “He is doing tremendously better.”

“Good.” he snorts. “Then they won’t need us just yet.”

And then he’s kissing her again.

OOO

They make it to the huge bed that now takes half his bedroom eventually.

Effie belongs there, he and Lucie decide, naked and hugging her white tiger over the sheets.

He slips the ring on her finger when she doesn’t expect it. She’s still wearing the frayed piece of tinsel but the ring fits right over it.

It’s not plastic and it’s not pear-shaped.

It’s a mix or gold and diamond that form a tiger’s head.

OOO

“Artemis believes we are soulmates, you know.” she confesses in the crook of his neck.

He glances at their daemons, at the way they’re tangled together, bickering but pressing closer to each other, and a small smirk stretches his lips. “Worse fate, sweetheart.” 

There are worse fates indeed…

**The End**

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> And it's a wrap! I hope you enjoyed this story! I will certainly miss Lucie and Artemis! Let me know your thoughts!


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